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Coverage by CNNi and BBC News
A Spanish court is set to deliver verdicts on 24 men accused of links to al-Qaeda, in the biggest trial involving the network in Europe so far. Three of the suspects are accused of helping to organise the 11 September 2001 attacks on America. The judges are expected to read out the verdicts in a high-security courtroom in Madrid at a session due to start at around 1330 local time (1130 GMT).
Meeting with ringleader Mohammed Atta
The defendants include Syrian-born Immad Yarkas, the alleged head of an al-Qaeda cell in Spain.
Mr Yarkas, 42, is accused of heading a cell that allegedly provided funding and logistics for the people who planned the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Along with co-defendant Driss Chebli, he is said to have set up a meeting in June 2001, which was allegedly attended by at least one of the attack ringleaders, Mohammed Atta.
The third, Jose Luis Galan, is accused of filming the twin towers and other targets, material which was passed on to al-Qaeda operatives.
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Prosecutors want the three to serve jail terms of 25 years for each of the 2,973 victims of the attack.
The other 21 men are accused of belonging to a terrorist organisation. All 24 deny the charges against them.
The case pre-dates the Madrid bombing in March 2004 that killed 191 people, but our correspondent says Spain wants to be seen to be tough on Islamic militants before the trial of those suspected of involvement in the bombing begins next year.
Al Jazeera journalist arrested last Friday
The other defendants – mostly men born in Syria or Morocco – are charged with belonging to a terrorist group, but not of planning for 11 September. They face sentences of nine to 21 years if convicted.
Among them is a journalist from the Arabic TV station al-Jazeera, Tayssir Alouny, who interviewed Bin Laden after the attacks. Defence lawyers argue the case consists of doubts and suspicions but little concrete evidence.
All the defendants are part of a group of 41 suspects indicted by Judge Baltasar Garzon.
Judge Garzon says Spain was a key base for hiding, helping, recruiting and financing al-Qaeda members in the lead-up to the attacks on New York and Washington.
