A Spanish judge formally charged eight Islamic militants today with providing logistical support to a suspected coordinator of the September 11th attacks on the United States.
The eight provided false identity papers and other documents to Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, a suspected coordinator of the attacks who is currently in US custody, and other al-Qaeda members connected to the hijackings, the judge charged.
Investigating Judge Baltasar Garzon ordered six of those charged to be held pending trial and released a seventh, Spaniard Francisco Garcia Gomez, on €20,000 bail.
The eighth, Tahar Ezirouali, is still at large.
One of the suspects, Hedi Ben Youssef Boudhiba, travelled to Hamburg, Germany, on September 3rd, 2001, under a false name to meet Ahmed Taleb, a member of the Hamburg cell responsible for the attacks eight days later, Judge Garzon said in a court order.
The eight men are the last in a string of suspected Islamic militants held in Spain believed to have played a role in the attacks.
Judge Garzon and others at Spain's High Court have opened nine separate investigations into suspected Islamic militant groups. They are looking at possible links between the perpetrators of the September 11th attacks and Madrid's March 11th train bombings that killed 191 people.
Judge Garzon has also ordered the arrest of members of a cell that he says aided Mohammed Atta, alleged lead hijacker in the US attacks, when Atta was in Spain in the summer of 2001.