MOROCCO - Feb. 21 - Three Saudi Al Qaida Members Jailed.

A Casablanca appeal court jails three Saudi members of Al Qaida - Zuhair Hilal Tabiti, Abdullah M'Sfer Ali Al Ghamdi and Hilal Jaber El Assiri - for 10 years on charges of plotting to attack US and British warships in the Straits of Gibraltar in 2002. Their lawyer Khalil Idrissi said the court acquitted the three of attempted sabotage and attempted homicide, but they were convicted on lesser charges. He said: "They have been convicted of charges of criminal conspiracy, the use of false documents and illegal stay in Morocco. But we'll lodge an appeal against the verdict soon". The court also sentenced several Moroccan accomplices to lesser terms, including three women who were jailed for six months for use of false documents and destruction of evidence. (Authorities arrested the 10 suspects in May and June 2002, accusing them of planning "terrorist attacks" in Morocco and on warships in the straits separating Africa from Europe, and of belonging to Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaida network. MAP agency said at least one Moroccan had been acquitted). The defence team said the suspects were tortured and sexually abused by security services and that the case, which they said lacked material evidence to back the charges, was fabricated. Amnesty International said it received numerous reports of scores of detainees being tortured or ill-treated in custody in order to extract confessions or to force them to sign statements which they rejected or denied. It said in a statement: "Many of the reports related to Islamists allegedly held in secret detention and accused of involvement in or planning violent acts. Amnesty International fears that the case of 10 Saudi and Moroccan men and women... is just one example among many of this renewed practice of secret detention and torture".