[JURIST] The Law Lords [official website], the judicial panel of the UK House of Lords which is Britain's highest court, Wednesday dismissed [opinion] an appeal by a suspect in the 2004 Madrid bombings [JURIST news archive] contesting his extradition to Spain. Moutaz Almallah Dabas, a Syrian-born Spanish citizen, was arrested in London [BBC News report] in March 2005 for his alleged involvement in the Madrid bombings that killed 191 people in March 2004. Dabas' defense lawyers say he was arrested under an invalid extradition warrant [JURIST report] and may face torture and other abuse if extradited to Spain. The court concluded that the extradition proceedings complied with European law and unanimously voted to dismiss Dabas' appeal, thereby paving the way for his extradition back to Spain. Bloomberg has more.

The trial of 29 people [JURIST report] suspected of involvement in the Madrid bombings began February 15 in the National Court of Spain. The defendants [BBC backgrounder], mostly of Moroccan descent, are charged with 192 counts of murder and upwards of 1,800 counts of attempted murder related to the March 11, 2004 bombings, which prosecutors say were motivated by al-Qaeda's demand that Spain be punished for supporting the Iraq war.