Spain charges 24 suspected Islamic militants

Twenty-four men are to go on trial in Madrid tomorrow in Europe's biggest court case against suspected Islamist militants.

Twenty-four men are to go on trial in Madrid tomorrow in Europe's biggest court case against suspected Islamist militants.

Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, faces 25-year sentences for each of the 2,973 victims of the September 11th, 2001, attacks.

Moroccan-born Driss Chebli and Syrian-born Ghasoub Al Abrash Ghayoun also face sentences of some 70,000 years for "terrorist murder", court documents show.

The trial, which comes after failed terrorism prosecutions in Germany and The Netherlands this month, will be the first to be held at a high-security building in Madrid.

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The case in Spain has been prepared by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who has been investigating Islamic militancy since 1991 - long before train bombings by radicals linked to al-Qaeda killed 191 people in Madrid on March 11th last year.

All suspects but one are charged with belonging to a terrorist group.

They include Tayseer Alouni, a reporter for Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera who interviewed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden shortly after the attacks on New York and Washington. "I am innocent. Whatever the outcome of the trial I will maintain that until death," Mr Alouni said.

Mr Alouni, born in Syria and now a Spanish citizen, admits to knowing some of his co-defendants but only as fellow members of the Syrian community. He has been under house arrest in Granada since being freed from jail due to a heart condition.