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Alert

Madrid prosecutor demands three year jail sentence for "El Mundo" deputy editor accused of "revealing state secrets"

Antonio Rubio alleged Spanish secret services had prior knowledge of 2004 Madrid terror attacks

(IPI/IFEX) - Vienna, 14 September 2009 - A Madrid prosecutor on Monday demanded a three year prison term - and a three year ban on practising journalism - for El Mundo Deputy-Editor Antonio Rubio, who is accused of allegedly "discovering and revealing state secrets."

The charges stem from articles published in the Spanish daily on 31 May 2005 detailing confidential reports which an informer codenamed 'Cartagena' supplied to the Spanish secret services prior to the 2004 Madrid terrorist train bombings, which claimed nearly 200 lives.

The reports show that 'Cartagena' warned Spanish authorities more than one year in advance that a radical group planned to attack on Spanish soil, even naming one of the co-plotters, Rabei Osman.

An Italian court jailed Osman for eight years in 2006 for his role in the bombings.

El Mundo's reporting in May 2005 contained lengthy excerpts from and summaries of internal memos leaked from Spain's anti-terror unit, the Central Unit for External Information (Unidad Central de Información Exterior).

El Mundo first reported that an unnamed Madrid-based imam had supplied Spain's intelligence services with information on the individuals planning the terrorist attacks in Spain in October 2004.

"We are shocked that such charges are being brought against a journalist in Spain, and call on the prosecutor to drop them immediately," said IPI Director David Dadge. "Moreover, the move to ban a journalist coming as it does from a prosecutor is quite simply deplorable in a democratic nation and EU member."