Provisional release for one convicted in 2017 Barcelona terror attacks

One of the three individuals convicted for the 2017 Barcelona and Cambrils terror attacks, Said ben Iazza, has been provisionally released from jail after serving half of his conviction.

Spain's National Court made the decision on Tuesday, on the grounds that he has already spent four out of the eight years he was sentenced to and his conviction is not final yet – the same court has yet to deliberate on an appeal.

The legal system in Spain usually sets the limit of provisional detention to four years, and in this case, petitions from the prosecutors and defenses led the magistrates to decide to impose the limit to the detention at half of their convictions.

The other two convicted will continue in provisional detention

While Saïd ben Iazza has reached this limit, the other two convicted individuals are very unlikely to be provisionally released until their sentencings are final, since the National Court imposed 53 and a half years behind bars to Mohamed Houli and 46 and a half years to Driss Oukabir for the events.

Houli and Oukabir were found guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization; possessing, stockpiling, and manufacturing explosives and flammable substances or devices that are terrorist in nature; and attempted criminal damages of terrorist intent in combination with 29 offenses of grievous bodily harm due to serious negligence. Ben Iazza, meanwhile, was convicted of collaboration with a terrorist organization, but was not considered member of the cell.

Yet, none of them were found guilty for the murders, since they did not directly intervene. 

Saïd ben Iazza was arrested on September 22, 2017, a month after police officers interviewed him as a witness in Vinaròs, a Valencian town close to Alcanar. He told officers he knew two members of the cell because they frequented his uncle's butcher’s shop, where he worked. He admitted to lending them his ID and a car, but denied knowing that they were going to use it to buy the raw materials needed to make explosives.

From now on, he will have to set a residence in Spain and will not be permitted to leave Spain without judicial authorization, as his passport will be withheld.