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Madrid: Shocked and angry, survivors and relatives of those killed in the Madrid bombings questioned why no one had been convicted of plotting the attacks and said the sentences imposed on the guilty were too short.
Isabel Presa, who lost her youngest son in one of the explosions, shook as she told journalists of her disgust. "I'm not a judge or a lawyer but this is shameful, outrageous," she said before breaking down in tears.
Judges found 21 people, mainly Moroccans but also several Spaniards, guilty of involvement in the early morning bombings on four packed commuter trains on March 11, 2004 - the deadliest terror attacks in the West since the September 11, 2001 strikes against the United States.
Three of the guilty were sentenced to thousands of years in prison. Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmad or "Mohamad the Egyptian," accused of being one of the masterminds, was acquitted and the judges also cleared two other men of plotting the attacks.
Sentences were often shorter than prosecutors had requested. "It has destroyed my life, it has condemned me and my husband to a life sentence, and these people get off scot-free, some already on the street and others to 12 years," Presa said. "I have waited three years, and now? Now what?"
Some suspected masterminds are believed to have fled the country and another two alleged ringleaders were among seven men who blew themselves up in a Madrid apartment three weeks after the attacks.
Victims' groups said they would appeal.
"We're very surprised by the acquittal. If it wasn't them, we have to find out who it was. Somebody gave the order," said Jose Maria de Pablos, spokesman for a victims' association.
Ahmad's lawyer, whose client is in prison in Italy for another offence, said justice had been done. "He was condemned by society and by the media but a judge decided that he is innocent - that's not only good news for myself as his lawyer, but also for Spanish society as a whole," said Endika Zulueta.
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