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### Viewing cable 09MADRID255, SPAIN: STATUS REPORT ON YARKAS, JAILED AL QAEDA

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09MADRID255 | 2009-03-09 17:05 | 2010-12-23 12:12 | SECRET | Embassy Madrid

`

    VZCZCXRO6049
    RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHTRO
    DE RUEHMD #0255/01 0681703
    ZNY SSSSS ZZH
    R 091703Z MAR 09
    FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
    TO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
    RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0358
    RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
    INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
    RUCNSTF/TERRORISM FINANCE PRE NOTIFICATION COLLECTIVE
    RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 3886
    RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
    RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
    RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

` `

    S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000255

    C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (CORRECT PARA NUMBERS)
    SIPDIS

    STATE FOR EUR/WE AND EEB/ESC/TFS,
    NSC FOR E.FARR,
    TREASURY FOR IA/OEE:W.LINDQUIST
    TREASURY ALSO FOR TFFC DFERNANDEZ

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/27/2024
    TAGS: EFIN PTER KTFN SP
    SUBJECT: SPAIN: STATUS REPORT ON YARKAS, JAILED AL QAEDA
    CELL LEADER

    REF: A. 08 MADRID 490
    ¶B. 08 MADRID 522
    ¶C. 08 MADRID 526
    ¶D. 08 MADRID 757
    ¶E. 08 MADRID 294
    ¶F. OSC: EUP20090106178004

    MADRID 00000255 001.4 OF 002

    Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Arnold A. Chacon for reasons 1.4 (b),
    (c) and (d)

    ¶1. (S) SUMMARY: This cable provides an update on recent
    Embassy attempts to engage the GOS on designation of Imad
    Eddin Barakat Yarkas, aka "Abu Dahdah," the convicted leader
    of the Al Qaeda (AQ) cell in Spain. The issue remains
    unresolved, and has taken a twist following allegations
    beginning in April 2008 that Yarkas was involved in financing
    terrorism from his jail cell during 2006-07. A three
    judge-panel in July 2008 suspended the prosecution of the
    case, which was formally closed in December 2008. However,
    the Spanish magistrate who presided over Yarkas's original
    trial recently hinted to Embassy officials that GOS
    investigations of Yarkas - whether for the purposes of
    suspicious transactions or for broader reasons - are either
    ongoing or may soon be resumed. END SUMMARY.

    //Background on Yarkas//

    ¶2. (S) As reported in REFTELS, Yarkas has been in a Spanish
    prison since his November 2001 arrest. He was convicted in
    2005 and sentenced to 12 years for membership in a terrorist
    organization and to 15 years for conspiring to commit
    terrorist murder on 9/11/2001, although in 2006 the Supreme
    Court, citing lack of admissible evidence, overturned the
    latter conviction. Despite the Supreme Court's action,
    Magistrate Javier Gomez Bermudez, the President of the
    National Court's Criminal Chamber who presided over the
    three-judge panel that heard Yarkas's trial in 2005,
    reaffirmed - unsolicited - to POLOFF and LEGAT during a
    private lunch on February 24 that Yarkas did meet with
    Mohammed Atta and Ramzi Binalshibh in 2001 as part of final
    preparatory meetings for the 9/11 attacks, which he asserted
    confirmed the links of Yarkas's cell to AQ and justifies the
    original conviction. More recently, there have been sporadic
    press reports for nearly a year on allegations that Yarkas
    was involved in financing terrorism from his jail cell during
    2006-07. This cable provides an update on Embassy Madrid's
    extensive reporting on this allegation (See REFTELS A-D).

    //Efforts to Convince GOS to Designate Yarkas//

    ¶3. (S) In 2009, Embassy Madrid has attempted to re-engage the
    GOS on the years-long USG interest in having the GOS
    designate Yarkas' assets. On January 15, an adviser to the
    Deputy Interior Minister told POLOFF "You didn't hear it from
    me, but the Ministry of Interior agrees completely that
    Yarkas should be designated." The adviser suggested the
    Embassy should approach the MFA on the matter. POLOFF and
    Deputy ECON Counselor broached the issue on January 26 with
    the MFA's Sub-Directorate General for International Terrorism
    Issues. Acting Deputy Director Iago Losada claimed limited
    knowledge of the issue, but said he would look into the
    matter and also recommended that the Embassy approach the
    GOS's National Center for Counterterrorism Coordination
    (CNCA). In early February, the Embassy's Office of Regional
    Affairs (ORA) raised the issue with the CNCA during a
    regularly scheduled meeting. The CNCA official, however, was
    evasive and exhibited telltale body language that expressed
    the official's considerable unease with the topic, quickly
    referring the Embassy back to the MFA. The Deputy ECON
    Counselor followed up with Losada, who confirmed our
    understanding of the designation process - the Ministry of
    Interior gathers the information and passes the dossier to
    the MFA for action, including notifying the UNSC and EU - but
    was unable to state whether the MFA had received the
    materials on Yarkas from the Interior Ministry. Losada
    doubted that he would be able to find out anything more and
    intimated that any further information on the case should
    come from the CNCA.

    MADRID 00000255 002.4 OF 002

    // Case May Not Be Closed on Allegations that Yarkas Financed
    Terrorism From Jail//

    ¶4. (U) As indicated in REFTEL F and the February 13 edition
    of leading news magazine, El Tiempo de Hoy, a three-judge
    panel -- comprised of Felix Alfonso Guevara, Maria de los
    Angeles Angeles Barreiro, and Clara Eugenia Bayarri -- in
    December 2008 closed the case of Yarkas's involvement in
    financing terrorism from his jail cell, arguing that the
    transactions in question were merely the actions of a former
    Yarkas co-defendant, Brassam Dalati, breaking off all
    financial links to Yarkas. In closing the case, the panel
    accused the Spanish National Police and an investigating
    judge of having brought forward a sloppy case and even of
    having trumped up the charges of terrorism finance while
    ignoring exculpatory evidence.

    ¶5. (S) On February 24, POLOFF and LEGAT raised the subject -
    among others - during lunch with Magistrate Gomez Bermudez,
    who surprised them by indicating that he was personally
    involved in investigations into Yarkas's financial
    activities. The magistrate's opinion was that the terrorism
    finance case described in Para 5 should not have been closed.
    He indicated that he believed another judge had committed
    judicial mistakes in his or her handling of the case, which
    has prompted Gomez Bermudez to look into the issue. Gomez
    Bermudez politely indicated to POLOFF and LEGAT that it would
    be inappropriate for him to speak further about the topic,
    which they understood to mean that the investigation had been
    or may be re-opened.

    //What's In Store for Yarkas//

    ¶6. (S) Gomez Bermudez stated that Yarkas will serve his full
    12-year sentence and that his time served before the verdict
    was announced does count towards his sentence, which means he
    will be released in late 2013. As a convicted terrorist, he
    does not qualify for any work-release program or time off for
    good behavior. (COMMENT: The Spanish judiciary has updated
    its laws on this issue in part to prevent a similar situation
    to the 2008 release of Jose Ignacio "Inaki" de Juan Chaos, a
    high-profile and unrepentant convicted murderer from the
    Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorist group. De
    Juana Chaos only spent 18 years behind bars after receiving a
    symbolic sentence of more than 3,000 years - even though by
    law the most that anyone can serve is 30 years. END
    COMMENT.) Asked if Yarkas had ever expressed any remorse or
    regret for his actions, Gomez Bermudez responded that not
    only had Yarkas not done those things, but he also remains
    very antagonistic to prison guards and GOS officials,
    speaking to them in a very vicious way. The magistrate
    further remarked that, as a naturalized Spanish citizen,
    Yarkas will not be deported after completing his sentence and
    will be free to live in Spain if he so chooses. If so, Gomez
    Bermudez suggested Yarkas would likely be monitored by GOS
    security services.
    CHACON

`