[JURIST] A Spanish anti-terrorism court Wednesday convicted 47 Basque separatists of either leading, being a member of, or collaborating with a "terrorist organization," and sentenced each to between 2 and 20 years in prison. The 47 were members of various groups pushing for Basque independence, but prosecutors argued that all had ties to terror group ETA [BBC backgrounder]. Five other defendants were found not guilty. The Daily Telegraph has more.

In October, three political leaders in the Basque region, including its president, were ordered to stand trial [PDF text; JURIST report] for meeting publicly with members of the Batasuna party [BBC profile] to negotiate an ETA ceasefire. The Batasuna party is alleged to be a front for the ETA, which has been blamed for more than 800 deaths in bombings and attacks since the 1960s.