Four acquitted in Madrid bombings case

Madrid: Four men have been acquitted of crimes related to the Madrid train bombings in 2004, Spain's Supreme Court said on Thursday.

The men were cleared of crimes ranging from trafficking explosives to membership of a terrorist organisation in an appeal against a previous sentence.

The court also upheld the acquittal of a top suspect in the bombings of commuter trains, rejecting an appeal by prosecutors on the grounds he has already been convicted of the same crime in Italy, an official said.

Rabei Osman, an Egyptian, was one of three alleged masterminds cleared of mass murder in the bombings at a trial in Madrid in October.

The court ruled that because Osman had already been sentenced to eight years in prison in Italy, he could not be condemned again for the same crime, a court official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of departmental rules.

Spanish prosecutors had argued unsuccessfully that Osman was appealing his Italian sentence, leaving the door open for his trial here.

The bombings on March 11, 2004, killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800 and were Europe's worst Islamic terror attack.

Twenty-one people — including three masterminds — were convicted during the five-month trial that ended in October. Seven others, including Osman, were acquitted.