The Syrian head of a Spanish-based Al-Qaeda cell, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, alias Abu Dahdah, sits in court as he and 23 others await the verdict in Europe's biggest Al-Qaeda trial in Madrid. Yarkas has been jailed for his role in the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, at the end of the biggest trial to date in Europe involving Osama bin Laden's network.(AFP photo)

BEIJING, Sept. 27 -- A Spanish court has convicted a suspected al-Qaida cell leader for conspiracy in connection with the September 11 attacks and heading a "terrorist organisation."

    The accused, Imad Yarkas, was sentenced to 15 years for conspiracy in connection with the 9/11 attacks, and 12 years for being a leader of a "terrorist organisation."

    However Imad Yarkas' lawyer rejected the sentence.

    "There was no proof. There has been nothing. No one has been able to prove anything," he said. 

    Yarkas, a 42-year-old Spaniard of Syrian origin, had been charged with arranging a meeting in Spain just before the 9/11 attacks, at which key plotters decided last-minute details.

    Meanwhile, a Syrian with dual Spanish citizenship, Tayseer Alouni also stood trial in Madrid.

    Alouni became famous in the Arab world as Al-Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul and once interviewed Osama Bin Laden.

    He was convicted of collaboration and sentenced to seven years in jail.

    The third suspect facing specific September 11 charges - and acquitted on Monday - was Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, another Syrian-born Spaniard.

    Spain is only the second European country after Germany to put September 11 suspects on trial.

(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)