| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Down Under | |
| Spanish court tosses terror conviction | |
| 2006-07-24 | |
| MADRID, Spain - Spain's Supreme Court on Monday threw out a terrorism conviction against the only Spaniard to have been held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying there was no evidence to back up charges he was a member of al-Qaida. The court ordered the immediate release of Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, who was convicted last year of belonging to a terrorist organization and sentenced to six years in prison. "There is a total absence of prosecution evidence," the Supreme Court said. Ahmed was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and held by Pakistani authorities for about four months before being transferred to Guantanamo. He said he had gone to Afghanistan to study at an Islamic school.
He was returned to Spain in February 2004 and indicted by anti-terrorism judge Baltazar Garzon. Prosecutors said during his trial that Ahmed had gone to Afghanistan to train at an al-Qaida camp, and his address had been recovered by British police in an al-Qaida-linked raid in England. The Spanish Supreme Court last month threw out an al-Qaida suspect's conviction for conspiracy to commit murder in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. It also cited weak evidence against the suspect, Syrian-born Spaniard Imad Yarkas, who was indicted by Garzon in Sept. 2003 as suspected leader of an al-Qaida cell in Spain. The court upheld a 12-year sentence against Yarkas for belonging to al-Qaida. It acquitted three other suspects who had been convicted of belonging to or collaborating with al-Qaida. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #12 No one expects the Spanish Inquisition...perhaps the Supremes don't expect the al-Qaida paybacks either... |
| Posted by: Inspector Clueso 2006-07-24 23:12 |
| #11 Went to Afghanistan to study? Just like Johnny JIhad. Taliban allowed al-Qaeda free reign in operating terror training camps, and training is the main reason why foreigners went to the country when Taliban was in power. Thousands of Americans of Pakistan descent made extended jihad vacations to the murder camps. And they brought that training back with them. |
| Posted by: Griper Whegum8464 2006-07-24 22:20 |
| #10 If "here" is Quebec, then you've got smoked meat, poutine, pea soup and host of other delicacies. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2006-07-24 22:01 |
| #9 "Sometimes, I wonder if I'm not living in an asylum." You are. But escape is possible; my own ancestors fled France during the religious troubles, eventually making their way here via England and then Quebec. The food isn't as good here in Philadelphia, but we do have cheese steaks. C'mon over! |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2006-07-24 20:44 |
| #8 that Guantanamo was a shame for the mankind (no less). But if I recall correctly, a EU team which reviewed the conditions provided prisoners at Gitmo were among the best in the world, while the same group rated Romania and France near the bottom. |
| Posted by: Thetch Sperelet4392 2006-07-24 20:43 |
| #7 To 11A5S : I think the European project is good in its aim (creating a federation of countries to re-inforce them as a whole), but that it is crippled by the liberal way of thinking of a lot of european leaders and people (for example, more than 64 % of French people think that capitalism is evil, according to a recent survey), and by their will to oppose the US. They should want to positively compete with the US, which would lead to more fundings for research, for science, and for the army to fight terrorism. But the anti-American disinformation is deeply rooten in 'old Europe'. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm not living in an asylum. |
| Posted by: leroidavid 2006-07-24 20:28 |
| #6 Wow 11A5S. Deep-ish. Impressed I am. No slight. Kick ass, man. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2006-07-24 20:16 |
| #5 Watch how you speak of the Grand Duchy of Fenwick. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-07-24 20:13 |
| #4 The white Latin upper classes might find some utility in a Hispanosphere, but I can't see the mestizo and indio masses showing any interest at all in such a creature. I have come to consider, le roi david, the European selection of such an unserious enemy as the United States as a reflection of the silliness of the whole European project. If the Euro elites were serious about defining themselves in opposition to someone, one could surely find a much better example than America. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2006-07-24 20:10 |
| #3 Like Spain, France is dreaming of setting up a Francosphere to rival the Anglosphere. It's a shame that most of Spanish and French people think that it's more important to oppose the US than to oppose islamism and terrorism. They dont want to understand that the US are presently protecting the free world, once more. |
| Posted by: leroidavid 2006-07-24 20:01 |
| #2 Spain is the one country in Europe whose ass we have kicked around the block. They're upset about Gitmo because they tyhink it should still belong to them. They hope to set up a Hispanosphere to rival the Anglosphere. But most of the people who would qualify live in this hemisphere and seem to want to get away from things Hispanic for del Norte asap. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-07-24 19:09 |
| #1 Concerning what is happening in Spain nowadays, you have to remember that the far-left Zapatero was elected 3 days after the Madrid bombings of March 11th, 2004, and that he is at present discussing with the ETA terrorist organization (which has killed more than 1000 people in 30 years, and is the bloodiest terrorist group of all Europe). A lot of Spanish are disgusted about those talks, but, nevertheless, according to surveys (and to what I have heard in a recent trip in central Spain), they are fanatically anti-American (in fact, more than the French people, no joke). So, they sympathize with the poor terrorists detained in Guantanamo, and their justice system does too. In my country (France), 3 detainees released from Guantanamo are awaiting the decision of the tribunal, but already the judge has said during the trial that their detention in Guantanamo was a crime (yes), and that Guantanamo was a shame for the mankind (no less). By the way, that's the general mood in the vast majority of "old" Europe (Western Europe). |
| Posted by: leroidavid 2006-07-24 19:04 |