Spain: Two sentenced for part in synagogue bombing

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Spain's National Court on Wednesday handed down prison sentences of five years each to a Spaniard and a Pakistani for collaborating in the suicide bombing of a synagogue on the Tunisian resort island of Djerba in 2002, which killed 21 people. The two, Spaniard Enrique Cerda Ibanez and Pakistani Ahmed Ruksar, were found guilty of sending money to Issa Ismail Muhamad, identified as "Isaac of Karachi," who is believed to have financed the Djerba attack. According to the sentence, "Isaac of Karachi" told Cerda to open bank accounts for carrying out transactions. It adds that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the senior al-Qaida operative accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks, had Cerda's telephone number and gave it to Nizar Naouar, the Tunisian who allegedly drove the truck bomb in the Djerba attack. Ruksar, who ran a shop for making international calls in the northern Spanish town of Logrono, was also found guilty of supplying money to "Isaac of Karachi," the court document said. In the attack, which was claimed by al-Qaida militants, 14 Germans, five Tunisians and two French citizens were killed and 30 persons injured.