Indian among 11 jailed in Spain for terror offences

LONDON - An Indian-born father-of-six has been convicted in Spain along with 10 Pakistanis for planning terrorist attacks in Barcelona’s underground train system last year.

Mumbai-born Roshan Jamal Khan was among 11 men jailed for up to 14 years by Spain’s anti-terrorism court Monday for plotting to “carry out a violent attack using explosives against the Barcelona metro, which could have caused many casualties”.

“The indiscriminate aim is evidence of the terrorist nature of the attacks,” the court said.

Khan, a 50-year-old businessman and graduate of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison.

His Mumbai-based brother Mehboob Khan has been carrying out a campaign to protest his innocence ever since the 11 men were arrested during a raid on a mosque in Barcelona Jan 19, 2008.

According to Mehbook Khan, his brother was born in one of the most cosmopolitan areas of Mumbai and went to Spain in September 2007 to explore business opportunities in olives.

A father of six young children aged between 8 and 17, Roshan Jamal Khan is lonely in solitary confinement since a year. Meanwhile, far away in India, his family awaits a dove to fly in with an olive branch from Spain, Mehboob Khan said on his blogspot.

The court handed out the stiffest terms of 14-and-a-half years to Shaib Iqbal and Qadeer Malik for “belonging to a terrorist group” and for “weapons possession”.

A third Pakistani got 10-and-a-half years while the remaining men received terms of eight-and-a-half years each.

According to reports, the Spanish court said the men were part of a terror cell inspired by Pakistani Tehrik-e-Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

It cited a video interview available on the internet in which the spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban claimed it had planned the Barcelona attacks to protest the presence of Spanish troops in Afghanistan.

“The connection they had with Baitullah Mehsud meant that others, members of the same organisation, were sent to Barcelona from different countries to take part in the action, including with suicide bombers if needed,” the court said.