Three of the 29 suspects on trial for the 2004 train bombings in Madrid admitted Tuesday that they had had contacts with several of the other accused, but denied any involvement in the attacks. The three appeared to blame the bombings on seven other suspects who blew themselves up when their flat was besieged by police in Leganes near Madrid three weeks after the attacks.
| They're conveniently dead, of course... |
Moroccan Othman el Gnaoui admitted to having been to a farmhouse near Madrid where the bombs were assembled, but said he went there to do repairs at the invitation of one of the Leganes suicide bombers.
| Just a handyman. A simple, well-armed handyman. |
At the house, El Gnaoui said, his clothes may have got mixed up with those of suspected bomber Rifaat Anouar, also killed in Leganes. He claimed that would explain why his DNA was found together with that of Anouar at a railway station where some of the terrorists are believed to have got off trains after planting bombs.
| What was he repairing? Anwar's libido? |
Suspected collaborators El Gnaoui, Moroccan Fouad el Morabit and Syrian Mouhannad Almallah Dabas were questioned Tuesday following the interrogation of three alleged planners and three suspected bombers from Thursday to Monday. El Gnaoui faces a jail term of up to 24 years, while El Morabit and Almallah could be sentenced to up to 12 years.
El Morabit and Syrian Basel Ghalyoun - one of the suspected bombers - shacked up lived in a Madrid flat which had been rented by Almallah's brother. Almallah, however, denied using the flat for any terrorism-related activities, such as lodging fighters or hosting meetings at which Islamists watched videos on jihad and the suffering of Muslims. The Syrian admitted to sympathizing with the Muslim Brotherhood organization, but said he was a member of Spain's Socialist Party.
Almallah focused his testimony partly on Tunisian Serhane ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, one of the suspected masterminds, who was killed in Leganes. He said Fakhet proposed that he go and fight in Iraq, but he replied that he "lived well in Spain" and would "stay here. " El Morabit said Fakhet had told him to return to his country, because "something very big" was going to happen in Madrid. The Moroccan has said he understood Fakhet to mean a terrorist attack, but now says he did not take the warning seriously.
El Gnaoui, El Morabit and Almallah are among 22 cannon fodder lower-level accused at the trial where the prosecution is seeking prison sentences of nearly 40,000 years for each of the seven main suspects. |