ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept. 17 - Spanish Judge Indicts Bin Laden.

Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzon issues international arrest orders for Osama Bin Laden and 7 others suspected in the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackings in the US. He indicts Bin Laden and 34 others on charges of terrorism, including the 9/11 attacks in a nearly 700-page document saying Spain served "as a place or base for resting, preparation, indoctrinating, support and financing" of Al Qaida. Indicted suspects include Tayssir Alouni, the Al Jazeera journalist arrested on Sept. 8 in Spain, and Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, who was accused of leading an Al Qaida cell in Spain and was arrested in Madrid in November 2001. (The 6 others are believed to be in Spain but not all will be jailed, according to the order). Garzon ratified jailing orders for 11 already in prison in Spain. He accused the suspects of belonging to a terrorist group and other crimes, including weapons possession, tax fraud and forgery. Other names on the indictment list include Ramzi Binalshibh, another core leader of the Hamburg cell that helped prepare the Sept. 11 attacks. He was arrested in Pakistan in September 2002. (Along with Germany, Spain is known to have been an important staging ground for the Sept. 11 attacks. Accused ringleader and suicide pilot Mohammed Atta visited Spain in July 2001 and is believed to have held a key planning meeting with other participants in the north-eastern Spanish region of Tarragona. About 40 Islamic extremist suspects have been arrested in Spain since the attacks, although many were released for lack of evidence. Garzon has been leading the investigation in Spain into alleged members of Al Qaida and other militant Islamic groups. Garzon had Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet arrested in London but failed in 1999 to take him to court. Britain ultimately freed the aging ex-despot on grounds he was unfit to stand trial).