VZCZCXRO1354
RR RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMD #0802 0940912
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040912Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9310
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 3888
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 1838
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
RUEADAT/BUREAU OF ATF WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS MADRID 000802 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PGOV SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN: SUSPECTED AL-QA'IDA WEBMASTER SENTENCED TO 
10 YEARS IN JAIL 
 
 
¶1. (U) On April 3, Spain's National Court sentenced Algerian 
national Ahmed Brahim to 10 years in prison for attempting to 
create web pages for al-Qa'ida.  (Brahim was detained on 
terrorism charges in April 2002 in a town near Barcelona). 
The court found that Brahim's web pages were designed to 
"spread the most radical and extremist ideas of Islam which 
promote the jihad as part of the war against all those who do 
not share their beliefs."  The National Court also found that 
Brahim's actions constituted the promulgation of Islamic 
decrees dictated by extremist leaders and designed to 
encourage followers to commit terrorist acts. 
 
¶2. (U) Court documents indicated that, in planning the web 
sites, Brahim had meetings with several Al-Qa'ida leaders, 
including Salman al-Ouda, described as a close ally of Osama 
bin Laden.  Al-Ouda had allegedly given Brahim the material 
to create the websites, in the form of 22 data CDs filled 
with material that called for a holy war against the U.S. and 
other targets.  Brahim was also found to have communicated 
with extremist Salim y al-Homaid (AKA Abu Hajer, a member of 
al-Qa'ida's Shura Council who was captured in Germany and is 
now serving a prison sentence in the U.S.), and with Madrid 
train bomber Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet.  Authorities 
found substantial jihadist propaganda and computer equipment 
during a search of Brahim's apartment, which was used as 
evidence to convict Brahim as a "senior member" of a 
terrorist organization. 
 
//COMMENT// 
 
¶3. (U) Brahim's conviction comes just days before authorities 
would have been required to release him from prison since the 
maximum period of pre-trial detention in Spain is four years. 
 Prosecutors have one year to obtain confirmation of the 
sentence from the Spanish Supreme Court in order to avoid 
Brahim's release (if a sentence is not confirmed, a subject 
must be released after serving half of his or her maximum 
possible prison term, in this case 10 years).  If the 
sentence stands, it will be an important development in 
Spain's fight against terrorism, since it will mark a 
substantial prison term for an extremist convicted purely for 
propaganda activities on behalf of an Islamist terrorist cell. 
AGUIRRE