Ten Pakistanis and one Indian, sentenced by a Spanish court on Dec 14 to between eight and 14 years in prison for allegedly planning suicide attacks on a subway in Barcelona, have filed appeals against the verdict in higher courts of that country.

Dawn learnt this through Spanish journalist Pau Miranda, who works for “El Periodico de Catalunya” newspaper.

The journalist visited the houses of Mahroof Ahmed Mirza, Imran Cheema and Mohammad Shoaib on Thursday to know their family background and investigate the matter.

The Spanish court sentenced Mahroof Mirza (Jhelum) to ten-and-a-half years in jail for leading a terrorist gang and planning bomb attacks on the Barcelona subway. Muhammad Shoaib (Gujranwala), Imran Cheema (Gujranwala), Aqeelur Rehman Abbassi (Islamabad), Shaib Iqbal (Kohat), Mehmood Khalid (Karachi), Muhammad Tariq (Multan), Qadeer Malik (Rawalpindi), Abdul Hafez Ahmed (Rawalpindi), Muhammad Ayub Elahi (Mirpur) and Roshan Jamal Khan (Mumbai, India) were sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for working for the gang.

According to the court verdict, a copy of which is available with Dawn, a group of seven people, including six Pakistanis and one Indian, formed a terrorist organisation in Barcelona, headed by Mahroof Mirza, to carry out suicide attacks on the subway on the instructions of the late Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, and Al Qaeda leaders.

Muhammad Shoaib, Imran Cheema, Aqeelur Rehman and Mehmood Khalid were sent to Barcelona to be used as suicide bombers.  (News sourced from Dawn.com)