Seat of the National Court of Justice in Madrid, in a file picture. LUIS SEVILLANO
The National Court this Thursday ordered the trial of four prisoners accused of founding a jihadist group in prisons in Spain to spread the ideas of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS, that’s the acronym in English) to be repeated . The judges of the Appeals Chamber have therefore upheld the appeal of the public prosecutor’s office, which had joined two groups of terror victims (AVT and Asociación 11M), who had asked for the sentence imposed by another court in the country to be set aside Mal acquitted everyone involved in the alleged conspiracy, as there was no evidence that they “encouraged other inmates, friends and relatives” to “future acts of terrorism.”
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With this decision, the Appeals Chamber is writing another chapter in this complicated court case. It all starts in 2017, when the Central Investigative Court 1 took over the investigation into the appearance of some graffiti in Estremera prison (Madrid), which included messages such as: “We are the soldiers of the Caliphate” or “The Islamic State”. are we”. This original cause was expanded and after a three-year investigation, it was concluded that between 2015 and 2019 a group of detainees – convicted of crimes of jihadism or on remand – formed a network “to maintain cohesion and fighting spirit “. Muslim prisoner in numerous Spanish prisons” and campaigned to “facilitate the actions of the terrorist organization”. Presumably, the defendants maintained contact with other inmates with whom they exchanged letters.
The process began in July 2022. Five people sat on the bench: Abderrahmanen Tahiri, also known as Mohamed Achraf; Mohamed el-Gharbi; Karim Abdeselam Mohamed; Abdelah Abdeselam Ahmed; and Lahcen Zamzami. During the hearing, the parties withdrew the charges against Zamzami but maintained them against the others. However, the court acquitted them all in October, when it ruled for the first time that it had not been proven that they formed this “facilitating network” of ISIS, nor that they encouraged the commission of future terrorist attacks, nor that they had led other inmates. against the extremist ideas of said terrorist group, with a process of progressive radicalization of people who were not sufficiently radicalized.”
This trial court – composed of Judges Teresa Palacios, Carmen Paloma González and Juan Francisco Martel – concluded that the defendants, who “enjoyed respect among Muslim prisoners because of their knowledge of the Islamic religion”, had recommended other inmates in their letters who “would be patient during their stay in prison, who would not yield in battle, who would remain true to their jihadist ideology and obey, because in the end Allah would give them victory.” But their letters did not urge committing “terrorist actions.” , “despite the vehemence of many religious texts which they sent and received”.
A thesis not shared by the Appeals Chamber (made up of Judges José Ramón Navarro, Eloy Velasco and Manuela Fernández Prado), which first overturned that acquittal in December 2022 and ordered the Court of First Instance to issue a new order, which has since been issued it “contradictions between the proven facts and the legal classification”. In the opinion of this chamber, it is clear from the description of the first sentence of what happened that the defendants were not concerned with “exercising patience, perseverance and strength in order to fulfill their respective criminal responsibilities, but rather with complying with as many of them as possible.” Adherents of jihadist ideology should continue to defend radical jihad even after their release from prison.”
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For this reason, the court of first instance (Palacios, González and Martel) issued a new verdict in February 2023, but again acquitted all the accused: “The acquittal must be maintained in the absence of requirements verifying the offenses cited and in the absence of Evidence supporting the allegation against them.” A statement that has struck down for the second time the Appeals Chamber (Navarro, Velasco and Fernández Prado), which this Thursday ordered the trial with new judges against four of the five accused repeat – they exclude Lahcen Zamzami, against whom withdrew the charge. This Chamber agrees with the prosecution that the acquittal decision “follows an argumentative development that entails illogical bankruptcies”.
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