[JURIST] A Spanish court Wednesday convicted three men of murder for their roles in the 2004 Madrid train bombings [JURIST news archive], and found 18 others guilty on other charges. Seven others were acquitted, including accused mastermind Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed [CBC profile]. Those convicted of murder - Jamel Zougam, Otman el Ghanoui, and Emilio Trashorras - each received sentences of up to 40,000 years imprisonment. The judge also ordered compensation [JURIST report] to be paid for the victims in amounts up to 1.5 million euro.

In all, 28 co-defendants [BBC backgrounder] were charged in Spain with 192 counts of murder and upwards of 1,800 counts of attempted murder related to the March 11, 2004 bombings, which killed 191 people and injured almost 2000 more. The defendants have all protested their innocence and condemned the attacks. On Monday, an Italian court affirmed the conviction of Ahmed [JURIST report] for belonging to an international terrorist network, reducing his sentence from ten years to eight. BBC News has more.