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Madrid bomb suspects on hunger strike

From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman

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MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- At least four key defendants in the Madrid train bombings trial are on a hunger strike it emerged Wednesday as the judge sent one for medical treatment after he lay down in the courtroom.

Judge Javier Gomez Bermudes said although the accused Islamic terrorists had the right to go on a hunger strike, it would not delay the trial. He said he could order them to be force fed and expelled from the courtroom, under Spanish law.

Shortly after, one of the hunger strikers, Moroccan-born Youssef Belhadj -- an accused mastermind of the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people -- lay down on a bench in the bulletproof glass enclosure where he has attended the trial with other defendants.

The judge ordered a medical check on Belhadj, 30, although a court doctor earlier found him and the other three hunger strikers fit to attend proceedings.

The court has officially been informed by Spanish prison officials that four of the 29 train bombing defendants are on a hunger strike that started last week. The four are prime suspects in the case. Three are accused masterminds of the bombings, and the fourth is accused of placing a bomb aboard the trains.

The four face sentences of about 38,000 years in prison, if convicted of mass murder in the deaths of 191 people and attempted mass murder for the 1,800 injured in the commuter train attacks.

Prison officials say that nine more accused Islamic terrorist defendants appear to be following the lead of the initial four hunger strikers. Some of the other nine face lesser charges, of simply membership in or collaborating with a terrorist group, but not of having principal roles in the bombings.

Most of the 29 defendants are suspected Islamic terrorists. Many of them are Moroccans, but there are also nine Spaniards, accused of trafficking in explosives that were used in the attacks. None of the Spaniards is refusing food, officials said.

The trial started last February, and expected to conclude this summer, with a verdict due next autumn.

Court officials said that if the defendants had started their hunger strike before the trial began, it likely would have delayed the proceedings. But Spanish law permits the trial, once under way, to proceed despite events like hunger strikes.

All 29 defendants testified during the opening days of the trial, denying the charges against them. Since then, hundreds of witnesses have testified.

The coordinated bombings of four Madrid commuter trains was the deadliest terrorist attack in Western Europe since al Qaeda became active. Prosecutors charge that the attack was inspired by, but not directed, by the terror group.

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