By Jane Barrett
MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish court found 21 people guilty of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings but cleared three men of masterminding Europe's deadliest Islamist attack, which killed 191 people.
Victims were shocked by the sentences, which in many cases were much lower than the state attorney had requested and left them without any clearer idea of who dreamed up the attack that ripped apart four commuter trains like tin cans.
Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez sentenced three men -- two Moroccans and a Spaniard who provided the bombers with explosives -- to as many as 42,924 years in prison. Nobody else got more than 23 years and seven people were acquitted.
The high nominal sentences for the three men reflect their conviction on multiple counts, but the figures are academic as Spanish law says nobody can serve more than 40 years in jail.
Relatives of victims were angry at the acquittals and the shorter sentences given to other defendants.
Isabel Presa, who lost her youngest son in one of the explosions, shook as she told journalists of her disgust at what she regarded as lenient sentences.
"I'm not a judge or a lawyer but this is shameful, outrageous," she said before breaking down in tears.
The biggest surprise was that two men originally accused of planning the attack were convicted only of belonging to a terrorist group, not of the Madrid killings.
A third suspected mastermind Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed or "Mohamed the Egyptian" was cleared of all charges. His lawyer in Italy, where he is in jail for belonging to a terrorist group, said he fell on his knees in prayer when he heard the ruling.
"We're very surprised by the acquittal," said Jose Maria de Pablos, spokesman for a victims' association. "If it wasn't them, we have to find out who it was. Somebody gave the order."
Another victims' group said they planned to appeal the ruling. Lawyers have said some of the accused could also appeal.
THREE MAIN CONVICTS
Ten bombs packed into sports bags and detonated by mobile phones tore through the trains on March 11, 2004, leaving the tracks strewn with bodies and injuring more than 1,800 people.
Three weeks later, seven men including two suspected ringleaders of the train bombings blew themselves up in a suburban apartment after police closed in on them. The explosives were the same as were used in the March 11 attack.
They may have taken with them the main evidence of who was behind the attack, which the magistrate who investigated the bombings said was inspired by, but not directed by, al Qaeda. Continued...
Plaque at the city hall in memory of the casualties in the 11-M terror attack in Madrid 
The Audiencia Nacional of Spain (National Court of Spain) has found 21 of 28 defendants guilty in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

The defendants were facing charges including murder, forgery and conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack. 27 of them are men and one is a woman. 19 are mostly Moroccan Arabs and nine Spaniards.

Chief Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez read the verdicts which came after three months of deliberations.

Jamal Zougam, Otman el Ghanoui and Emilio Trashorras were found guilty of murder. The three were given sentences of 42,924 years in prison, although the most one can serve in Spain is 40 years. As far as the other guilty verdicts, no one was given more than 23 years for their part in the crime.

Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, aka "Mohamed the Egyptian", was acquitted although he is serving a ten-year sentence in Italy on other terrorism charges. Jose Maria de Pablos, spokesman for a victims' association, said: "We're very surprised by the acquittal. If it wasn't them, we have to find out who it was. Somebody gave the order."

"I'm not a judge or a lawyer but this is shameful, outrageous," said Isabel Presa, who lost her youngest son in one of the explosions. She told journalists of her outrage at what she thought were lenient sentences.

The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11-M) consisted of a series of coordinated bombings against the Cercanías (commuter train) system of Madrid, Spain on the morning of March 11, 2004, killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.