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Europe
Al Q lawyers warn Spanish court against sentencing “scapegoats”
2005-06-29
MADRID - Defence lawyers in Europe’s biggest trial of Al Qaeda suspects appealed Tuesday to Spain’s National Court to acquit suspects charged with helping to prepare the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States, warning the court against sentencing ”scapegoats” on flimsy evidence.

The trial against 24 Islamist suspects including several linked to September 11 is expected to conclude next week. Prosecutor Pedro Rubira has requested more than 74,000 years in prison for suspected Spanish Al Qaeda leader Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas alias Abu Dahdah, his assistant Driss Chebli and Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, who shot videos of the World Trade Center and other landmarks in the United States. Rubira has called for “exemplary sentences” showing that terrorism could be combated with judicial means instead of prison camps such as Guantanamo or the Iraq war.
Unless you let them out after 15 years served, in the Euro tradition.
“When making an example enters the house of justice, law flies out of the window,” argued Ghalyoun’s lawyer Jesus Santaella, saying his client had shot videos of U.S. monuments during a holiday and that there was no evidence against him. A defence lawyer for another accused, Mohammed Khair al-Saqqa who is charged with organizing the transport of the videos to Al Qaeda, warned the court against looking for “scapegoats”. Abu Dahdah’s lawyer gas accused Spain of staging an ”inquisitorial” trial against Arabs. Abu Dahdah, a Syrian-born businessman, was detained in 2001 when an Al Qaeda cell was dismantled in Spain.
Posted by:Steve White

#4  Actually, the proper name for the Spanish (and most of Europe's) system of justice is inquisitorial.

The adversarial system that came from British Common Law and is used in the countries she settled has the judge as a neutral arbiter, rarely asking questions. The inquisitorial system has the judge actively investigating the facts of the case. This is how Judge Garzon [sp?] indicted Pinochet, for example.
Posted by: Eric Jablow   2005-06-29 22:00  

#3  Bringing up the Inquisition isn't smart, either.
Posted by: mojo   2005-06-29 11:53  

#2  Tip to lawyer. Don't mention any kind of "goats" around these guys. It drives them crazy...
Posted by: tu3031   2005-06-29 08:28  

#1  "...accused Spain of staging an ”inquisitorial” trial..."

I wish they would. Something along the lines of "The Pit and the Pendulum"...
Posted by: PBMcL   2005-06-29 01:10  

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