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Spanish court convicts 5 Algerians of terrorism

From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman

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MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- The National Court in Spain on Friday convicted five Algerian men on Islamic terrorism charges and sentenced them to 13 years each in prison, according to a copy of the court sentence viewed by CNN.

The three-judge panel acquitted a sixth defendant, also an Algerian man.

The court convicted each of the five men for membership in a terrorist organization and for document forgery for terrorist purposes, the sentence said.

But the court also acquitted the five men on the more serious charges of conspiracy to carry out a terrorist attack and possession of explosives.

One of the five, Mohamed Tahraoui, 24, had been charged in an alleged plot on the military base, Rota, where U.S. and Spanish troops are based, near the Strait of Gibraltar. But that charge was not proven in court. Instead he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for membership in a terrorist group and document forgery.

A lawyer involved in the defense of the five told CNN the defense team will appeal the sentence.

"Yes we will appeal. There are a lot of grounds for appeal," said lawyer Sebastian Salellas, who along with his son, Benet Salellas, also an attorney, represented all six defendants, including the one fully acquitted. The latter is already out of prison.

The defendants were among 16 suspected Islamic extremists arrested in January 2003 near Barcelona. All of them were released after an initial analysis determined that the material they possessed was not bomb-making material, but cleaning detergent.

But after further investigation -- including an FBI analysis that the seized materials could be made into "homemade napalm" -- six of the 16 were re-arrested in 2004 and indicted, according to previous court documents viewed by CNN.

The trial was held last autumn. The presiding judge, Javer Gomez Bermudez, will also be the presiding judge in the separate Madrid train bombing trial, with 29 defendants, due to start next Thursday, February 15.

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