3 jailed for aiding 2017 Barcelona terror attacks

Barcelona, May 28 (IANS) A Spanish court has handed out prison terms of between eight and 53 years to three men who aided the perpetrators of the 2017 Barcelona terror attacks that killed 16 people.The court on Thursday sentenced Mohamed Houli Chemlal to 53 years and six months, while Driss Oukabir received a sentence of 46 years for crimes such as involvement in a terrorist organisation; possession and manufacture of explosive and flammable substances or devices; and causing injury, reports Xinhua news agency.They have also been prohibited from visiting the town of Alcanar (south of Barcelona), where they had prepared the terrorist attack, for 10 years after their release from jail.The third man, Said Ben Iazza, was given an eight-year jail term for collaborating with a terrorist organization, although he was acquitted of belonging to a terrorist organization; manufacture and possession of explosives for terrorism purposes; and conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks.On August 17, 2017, Younes Abouyaaqoub drove a van at high speed down Barcelona's famous tourist street Las Ramblas, killing 14 people. He later killed another person and escaped before being hunted down and shot dead by the police four days later.Other members of the terrorist cell killed another person in Cambrils, a nearby town, in the early hours of August 18 before five of them were shot and killed by the police. Chemlal was in hospital at that time as he got injured when the explosives manufactured by the group exploded at the house they had rented in Alcanar on August 16.This led Abouyaaqoub to carry out the van attack on Las Ramblas and it later emerged that the jihadi cell had planned to plant their home-made bombs at key sites in Barcelona, including at the Sagrada Familia Cathedral and FC Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium.
--IANS ksk/