Madrid bombings suspect jailed in Italy
191 people died in 2004's Madrid bombings
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Monday, 06, Nov 2006 06:41
An Egyptian national suspected of masterminding the 2004 Madrid train bombings was today sentenced to ten years in jail on terror charges by an Italian court.
Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, 35, received the sentence in Milan court after being found guilty of being involved in a terror cell that had connections across the continent.
Even though he was not in Spain on March 11th two years ago when a succession of bombs on commuter trains killed 191 people in the Spanish capital, he was arrested in Italy after police became fearful he was planning a similar attack in Belgium.
He will stand trial in Spain next February in relation to the Madrid bombings.
A second man, Yahia Ragheh, was today handed a five-year jail term for terror offences, with the prosecution describing Ahmed as grooming his apprentice to be a suicide bomber.
Next year's case against Ahmed, known as Mohammed the Egyptian in the Spanish media; will be based upon evidence used by Italian prosecutors obtained by bugging his apartment.
Transcripts of conversations with Ragheh read out in court said: "It's my work. The project [Madrid bombings] took a lot of studying and a lot of patience. It took me two-and a half years."
In addition, when the apartment of the chief suspect in the Madrid bombings was raided in 2004, Ahmed's phone number was discovered on his mobile phone.