Jamal Zougam

Who is Jamal Zougam?

Jamal Zougam was one of six men implicated in the 2004 Madrid train bombings. He was detained on 13 March 2004, accused of multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, stealing a vehicle, belonging to a terrorist organisation and four counts of carrying out terrorist acts. Spain's El País newspaper reported that three witnesses testified to seeing him leave a rucksack aboard one of the bombed trains.

Zougam owned a mobile phone shop in the Lavapiés neighborhood in Madrid called Nuevo Siglo. He is believed to be the person who sold telephones which were used to detonate the bombs in the attack. He also reportedly helped construct the bombs and was one of the first to be arrested.

On 31 October 2007, he was convicted of 191 charges of murder and 1,856 charges of attempted murder, and received a sentence between 43,000 to 50,000 years in prison. A Spaniard, Emilio Suárez Trashorras, who supplied dynamite in return for drugs – was sentenced to 34,715 years.