The AN judges from this Tuesday six presumed members of a jihadist cell that planned to attack in Barcelona

They fixed "especially Russian interests" and photographed three yachts of businessmen anchored in the port

MADRID, 21 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Court (AN) is judging six men from Tuesday as alleged members of a jihadist cell developed with "the ideology" of the Islamic State and which had among its plans "the perpetration of an attack" in Barcelona, ​​where they were based.

The trial should have started last Monday, but the court agreed to suspend the first session due to the absence of two lawyers.

In its indictment, collected by Europa Press, the Prosecutor's Office requests between 14 and 8 years in prison for crimes of promoting and directing a terrorist group, integration into a terrorist group and active collaboration with a terrorist group.

Rabah H., alias 'Rabeh' or 'Berkan Azizi', is for the Public Prosecutor's Office the leader of the terrorist cell based in Barcelona and in which Omar N., in charge of training and contact with DAESH, would have integrated; Hatab S., alias 'Miami', in command of the computer apparatus, and Lyes A., alias 'Soufian', target identifier.

The prosecutor maintains that the cell was in a position to act in the Catalan capital. "Not only had they been theoretically trained in the postulates of radical jihadist Salafism, but they had also been trained in the production of explosives and in the handling of other types of weapons and had begun the process to provide themselves with the necessary weapons for this purpose," explained in writing.

To prepare their attack plans, the Public Ministry says that they would have had the help of Younas E. to try to obtain weapons and Hichem H. to obtain data on objectives.

And, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the cell "was in contact" with the Islamic State from Omar N. and "through a complex system consisting of the chained use of various applications, alien to each other" and "whose sequenced use allowed to establish a direct dialogue with the ISIS".

To contact members of DAESH, Omar N. accessed a blog run by someone claiming to be an authorized contact for the organization in the Middle East conflict zone. Later, he was sent to instant messaging applications in which he would have conversed "directly", starting in June 2018, with ISIS officials, who kept him "promptly" informed.

In addition, in parallel to these contacts with ISIS, Omar N. consulted web pages that included manuals on the artisan manufacture of explosives for "lone wolves", the Public Ministry exposes.

Also through the Internet, the alleged leader of the cell, Rabah H., in order to keep the cell he led in communication with DAESH, accessed lists with jihadist contacts and consulted the videos published by production companies of the organization.

In his leadership role, Rabah H. convened meetings to train himself in the radical Salafist ideology, supplied jihadist-type propaganda material to his colleagues, imposed rules of conduct and security, distributed tasks and set objectives.

As objectives they set "especially" "Russian interests" and, for example, Lyes A. photographed three yachts belonging to Russian businessmen who were usually anchored in the port of Barcelona.

The meetings had a "double purpose", according to the Prosecutor's Office: on the one hand, to unite the group in its terrorist will and, on the other, by being open to the participation of third parties, including minors, they facilitated the recruitment of future jihadists. .

"Thanks to this direct connection, the members of the cell could consult whatever new material was published by any of the official ISIS channels, sometimes even within a few minutes of its publication on the internet by the terrorist group, as well as being informed almost in real time of the attacks that occurred", details the prosecutor in the letter.

The cell, which according to the account of the Prosecutor's Office "maintained contacts with other people who have been the subject of various investigations for jihadist terrorism" in the National Court itself, navigated the 'deep web', where it found "all kinds of cutting material violent and radical Salafist", such as attacks or executions.

Other of the presumed members of the cell, the Prosecutor's Office points out, searched the internet for various tutorials "on the handling of combat knives" as well as "indications on how to successfully carry out attacks through mass run-overs."

"Once the necessary formation and ideological cohesion of the cell had been obtained, it had been trained in the use of explosives and knives and in how to successfully carry out mass run-overs and with the expectation of obtaining war material, we proceeded to mark the possible objectives "adds the letter of the Prosecutor's Office.