A German court today convicted four Algerian men of plotting to blow up a crowded street market in Strasbourg, France, more than two years ago, sentencing them to 10 to 12 years in prison. The court said the men conspired to plant a bomb on New Year’s Eve, when the cobbled streets of Strasbourg’s old quarter would have been thronged by revelers. “They planned a blood bath in the center of Strasbourg, which could have hit anyone, including women, old people and children,” the presiding judge, Karlheinz Zeiher, said in delivering the verdict. “They wanted to spread fear among the people of France and Europe, to strike a nerve in the Western world.” he added, referring to Strasbourg’s prominence as the home of the European Parliament. The verdict came three weeks after a court in Hamburg convicted Mounir el-Motassadeq of 3,066 counts of murder for his role in the attack that leveled the World Trade Center. Prosecutors initially were expected to argue that the suspects had links to wider terror networks, including Al Qaeda. But the prosecutors later dropped that charge, saying it would drag out the proceedings. Full Story
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