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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GWOT Year 4 - 2005
Bin Laden fatwa as Spain remembers from CNN.com Bin Laden fatwa as Spain remembers CNN.com Friday, March 11, 2005 Posted: 6:43 PM EST (2343 GMT) Fatwa said the "terrorist acts" of bin Laden were "totally banned." MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Muslim clerics in Spain have issued what they called the world's first fatwa, or Islamic edict, against Osama bin Laden as the country marked the first anniversary of the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people. They accused him of abandoning his religion and urged others of their faith to denounce the al Qaeda leader, who is believed to be hiding out near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The ruling was issued by the Islamic Commission of Spain, the main body representing the country's 1 million-member Muslim community. The commission invited imams to condemn terrorism at Friday prayers. The fatwa said that according to the Koran "the terrorist acts of Osama bin Laden and his organization al Qaeda ... are totally banned and must be roundly condemned as part of Islam." (Full story) The action took place on the eve of the first anniversary of the country's worst-ever terror attack -- which many observers have coined as Europe's 9/11, a reference to the al Qaeda attacks on the United States in 2001. More than 1,500 people were injured when 10 backpack bombs exploded on packed commuter trains on March 11, 2004. Spanish authorities mainly blame Islamic terrorists and there were claims of responsibility in the name of al Qaeda. Many of the 74 suspects charged in the case lived in Spain -- but were originally from Morocco, a predominately Muslim country. But the only person sentenced so far is a teenage Spaniard facing six years for transporting explosives used in the attack. Royal tribute Spaniards lit candles, laid flowers and observed a long, mournful silence Friday to mark the first anniversary of the terrorist attack. King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia led government leaders and other dignitaries during the main memorial -- a silent, five-minute vigil inaugurating a grove of 192 olive and cypress trees, one for each person killed last March 11 and a policeman killed when Islamic militant suspects seeking to avoid arrest blew themselves up. The grove in Madrid's main park has been christened the "Forest of the Absent." After the vigil, a young cellist dressed in black played "Song of the Birds" by Pablo Casals, a piece the late Spanish composer and musician had dedicated to peace. As the dignitaries stood in silence, much of Spain paused in remembrance. Trains made unscheduled stops at stations, and people stopped in the street to grieve over an attack that cut across nationality, killing immigrants from Ecuador to Ukraine, from France to the Philippines. Earlier, at the rail stations targeted in the attack, people huddled together and shed tears as memories of the blasts returned. Some left notes that tried to put pain into words. "Who will give me back my will to live, which died here a year ago?" read a letter posted on a wall at El Pozo station -- the deadliest of four scenes of carnage. It was signed only Susana, a woman who said she was injured when bombs gutted a double-decker train. As dawn broke, bells at hundreds of churches around Madrid tolled for five minutes beginning at 7:37 a.m., when the first of 10 dynamite-loaded backpacks detonated on four rush-hour trains. Al Qaeda-linked militants claimed responsibility. Even now, images of Spain's tragedy are hard to bear. And memories still haunt the survivors. (Full story) A year on, broken families still meet in Madrid's main square to share their torment, and tears. Mothers like Rita, who moved to Spain from Ecuador to give her son, Jose Luis, aged 11, a better life. "Our hope was that he would become a professional: a doctor or a lawyer. We thought he'd have a better chance here, a better future. But we were wrong. We brought him to his death," she said. There are still many question marks, such as who exactly ordered the bombing. Just three days after the train bombings, the Spanish government -- allied with Washington over Iraq -- was voted out of office. The new administration withdrew its troops and is urging diplomacy for the future -- a stance more in tune with the feelings of many in Madrid. CNN's Matthew Chance contributed to this report |