men and an Indian national was held last month . All proclaimed their innocence and many refused to answer prosecutors questions . The three-judge panel at the National Court ruled on Monday that all 11 belonged to a terrorist group . Two of the 11 also were convicted of possession of explosives , but nine others were acquitted on that charge . The 11 face prison terms of eight to 14 years . But Jose Maria Fuster-Fabra , a private prosecutor representing victims in the case , told CNN the sentence sets a precedent in Spain because the 11 defendants were convicted for terrorist group membership almost solely on the basis of a key police informant , known as F1 to protect his identity . F1 testified he was selected by the group 's leader to be a suicide bomber , and that he quickly made a secretive call from a bathroom at a Barcelona mosque to warn a friend in France about an impending terrorist attack . Hours later , police swooped to make arrests in January 2008 in Barcelona . The protected witness denied on the stand that he worked for French or any other secret service .
Madrid , Spain -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A Spanish court convicted 11 Islamic militants Monday of membership in a terrorist group , but acquitted them of a `` specific '' conspiracy to carry out an attack on Barcelona 's metro subway system , as prosecutors alleged . The court instead said there was a more general decision by the group , linked to al Qaeda , to use explosives against Barcelona 's metro , but that a specific date and place had not been determined , nor had a sufficient amount of explosives been assembled , according to a copy of the sentence viewed by CNN . The judges ruled the alleged Barcelona plot had `` not advanced sufficiently '' to constitute a crime of conspiracy under Spanish law . The alleged plot in January 2008 had raised alarm bells in Europe because Spanish authorities said there were to be a series of attacks , starting with suicide bombings on the Barcelona metro , and then other attacks in Spain , Germany , France , Portugal and Great Britain , if successive demands from a Pakistani Taliban leader and al Qaeda were not met . The trial against 10 Pakistani