september
26, 2005
Al-Qaeda Cell
Leader Should've Received Harsher Sentence
Some interesting news out of Europe: currently the most
crucial front in the worldwide war on terror after Iraq.
Imad Yarkas, an al-Qaeda cell leader in Spain, was convicted
today in a Madrid court and sentenced to 27 years in prison
for conspiracy and being "a leader of a terrorist
organization." The Yarkas conviction closed out Europe's
largest trial of al-Qaeda members thus far. But while
I'm thrilled to see the Syrian-born Yarkas behind bars,
his conviction is a huge disappointment in that it could
have--and should have--been much more harsh. Indeed, prosecutors
had been seeking a prison term of nearly 75,000 years
for Yarkas. That amounts to 25 years for each of the nearly
3,000 people killed in the 9/11 attacks, which Yarkas
helped organize.
Yarkas had been charged with arranging a meeting in Spain
in July 2001 at which lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta
and plotter Ramzi Binsalshibh met to decide last-minute
details about the attacks, including the date they would
be carried out. According to the 450-page sentencing report
for Yarkas' case, "The only thing proven is Yarkas'
conspiracy with [Mohammed Atta]" and other members
of the Hamburg, Germany-based 9/11 cell that helped plan
9/11. The "only thing?" Shouldn't these intimate
dealings with Atta and the others been enough to net Yarkas
a good chunk of that proposed 75,000 year sentence? Surely
more than the 27-year sentence ultimately handed down
today.
As for the other defendants in the Yarkas trial, 17 were
convicted of belonging to or collaborating with al-Qaeda
and six were acquitted. One of the 17 was Tayssir Alouny,
a correspondent for the Al-Jazeera network. You heard
it right: a reporter from the Muslim world's most popular
television network has been sentenced to seven years in
prison for his links to Al-Qaeda. So much for objectivity.
But even before Alouny's conviction, it was clear that
Al-Jazeera was functioning as little more than a propaganda
arm for Islamic terrorists.
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