What Al-qaida Did to Us - Part Three

Fernandez Marino: Specialist in orthopedic surgery and traumatology, on duty in the accident and emergency ward of Madrid's Gregorio Mara?on hospital on March 11 2004, when a dozen bombs exploded on commuter trains. Death toll: 191 people

· What has stayed in my mind from that day is the noise of the ambulances. It was as if there was a giant wasps' nest of them out there in the street. That sound is something that has remained in my head. Thinking back, that was how, in the hospital, we first realized something truly serious was happening.

The first ones to arrive weren't too badly injured. But I remember they were very traumatized, very frightened, most of them with burns and - something that made an impact on all of us - with their hair totally burned off. This sort of things leaves its mark. Emotionally, it is bound to have an effect. And no, it's not the same as all those other things I have seen as a doctor.

I started in this hospital in 1984 and I have never seen anything like this. I have had to deal with several Eta bomb attacks. I remember a bomb in a bus full of civil guardsmen. There were lots of open fractures and amputations then too, but you can't compare one with the other.

The others were terrible, but this was, I don't know how to say it ... The people who came into the hospital this time could not even speak. In the other terrorist attacks people were shocked but they were able to talk. These ones couldn't say anything at all. They were totally closed in on themselves.

Many couldn't even hear you because their eardrums had been blown out. We really began to see just how extreme things had got when they started bringing us people on railway station benches. They must have run out of stretchers. Some of the injured came with legs already totally amputated. Others had them just barely hanging on. Those amputations had to be sorted out - and that meant cutting, cutting off more bone. One of the things that most had to be dealt with were people who had eyes blown out. That was another result of the shockwave.

Adrenaline works, you know. The adrenaline charge keeps you going all through the day, but it leaves you wrecked the next day. You have to organise yourself psychologically, whatever way you can, to carry on. You could see some people, especially the younger doctors, were very badly affected by what was happening, and crying. Was I sadder because of it all? Well yes, I was sad, more serious, for a few days, but not enough to need any professional psychological help.

A kind of sadness stays with you. But I think we did things well. The feeling is sweet and sour, of sadness and upset, but with pride at having tried to give your best, at being able to deal with a situation that I don't think anybody else in Europe has ever had to confront. I don't dwell on all of this, I don't worry about what might happen next. When I go to see my parents, I go on the metro. I'm not afraid. If something is going to happen, then it will happen - what can we do about it?

The other day, I was talking to an uncle who lives in New York. He was on holiday on September 11 but worked in the World Trade Center and was there the previous time they attacked it. He asked: "Aren't you scared now to catch the metro? Aren't you scared of catching the bus?" And I said: "Well, if it has to happen, it will happen. There is no point fretting about it. What we are not going to do is mortgage our lives to this bunch of bastards." If you work out the possibilities of something happening, you realize is more dangerous to cross the street in front of the hospital. We can't let them hold our lives and our freedoms to ransom. Giles Tremlett

Taoufiq Moussaif: defense lawyer, acting for some of the hundreds of Moroccan men charged in a crackdown after five Casablanca targets (some Jewish were bombed, May 16 2003. Death toll: 33 members of the public and 12 suicide bombers.

I had about 30 clients among the hundreds charged following the Casablanca bombings, including the preacher Hassan Kettani, who has been sentenced to 20 years, and the preacher Mohammed Abdel Wahab Rafiqi, sentenced to 30 years. According to the court they were the agitators for the people responsible for the drama of May 16. And Hicham Saber [who replaced Kettani as preacher at Kettani's mosque near Rabat, after Kettani was banned], who was acquitted.

One thing I want to say clearly: there was a kind of conspiracy among officials and lawyers' associations to make sure that those accused in connection with May 16 didn't have a lawyer with them when they came before the investigating magistrate. In most cases, when I came into contact with a client I was presented with a file already well sewn up. Well-rounded declarations, signed statements, very finely done so that no court could reject it.

Ever since I began to represent clients in al- Qaida-related cases [in 2002] I have had a lot of obstacles placed in my way by officials. The police began to ask my clients' families lots of questions, about why they chose me as a lawyer, whether I had any connection with the Jihad Salafists [Islamist fringe].

After the Casablanca explosions they contacted my father to say, "Your son is causing us problems. He is in contact with the press and human rights groups." I come from a bourgeois family here in Rabat, wholesalers of auto parts, bicycle parts, metal components. People began to make problems for my relatives. In one ministry they said, "Look, this contract we had with you, we're sorry but we can't go through with it."

That was on May 26 [2003]. I remember because I was at the clinic where my wife had just had a baby. When these relatives of mine came to the clinic to see her, they said to me, "Look what you've done to us now! We've had good relations with the government for decades. You've spoiled everything we built up over 50 years!"

Then in June a man came up to me as I was leaving my office. A man in his 60s. He said, "I'm a friend of your father. I want to talk to you a little." (My father said later he knew this person vaguely from the past). So I got into his car.

He said, "Look, Morocco is now at a point where there are people who want to destabilize it. They want to attack the political system and destroy everything that is good about Morocco. We want everyone to fall into line against these terrorists, so I'm obliged to give you some advice. You must avoid the press and human rights organizations."

At first I didn't take it seriously. I just said to him, "Look, I'm a lawyer. I do my job as the law dictates. If you are bothered by one of my declarations, you should tell me. Then we can talk about it. I know the security people are doing a job also."

Then he invited me three times to people's houses where there were university deans, highly placed people, people from political parties. We talked all evening sometimes. They asked me to help them with their investigation. I told them, "That is your job, not mine." It's not my role. If you are a lawyer you have to stick to being a lawyer. I'm not crafty enough to work with those people.

There is one thing I insist on. A person, whatever he may do, whether he's a terrorist or not, or a gentleman or a criminal or a crook, for me it's the same thing. I do my work. I'm a man of the law and I practice my trade within the law. Yes, I've become known as the Islamists' lawyer. But Islamists run into thousands, I only represented 30 or so. Other lawyers helped more than 50 of those held.

In the weeks after the bombings they were talking about dissolving the PJD. [Moussaif is also a member of the Justice and Development Party (PJD), the only Islamists in the Moroccan parliament.] All Islamic organisations were under heavy surveillance. The PJD had no connection with those attacks - the PJD is for democracy, human rights, for stability. The party leadership decided I needed to get the goahead before taking on any client charged in connection with the bombings.

Of course I didn't accept that. After the Casablanca bombings the big losers were human rights. In Morocco we're not living in the same atmosphere as before May 16. Now, no one can be sure of being left in peace, or that if he is taken to court he will get a fair trial. Eileen Byrne

Nitza Rubabshi: An nursery teacher, aged 38, Nitza and her family were among a group of Israeli tourists at the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, when it was bombed, November 28 2002. Death toll: 15, most of them Kenyan We decided to go to Kenya because we were afraid of terror attacks here in Israel and we got a really good offer: ?300 ($500) each for eight days. We thought it would be quiet and peaceful.

At first my three daughters did not want to go, but we convinced them that they would love it. When we landed I was quite shocked. It was like Gaza. There were cars packed with people and barefoot children pushing trolleys. It was very third-world and I didn't expect that, I don't know why.

At the hotel, it was beautiful. I began to think that we had made the right decision. But I didn't like the rooms so we came back to the lobby and our luggage was brought down as well to the center of the lobby.

Just as I began to explain to the Israeli holiday rep what was wrong with our rooms, the explosion went off.

Ayelet, my daughter, was close to me and she was unharmed but then I saw my husband running around crying out the names of the other two. They had been standing next to the luggage which was now in flames.

My only thought was then to find Rotem and Alona. I remember screaming, "Oh why did we come here?" I felt very guilty. For 20 minutes we didn't know whether they were alive or dead. We ran around shouting their names for what seemed like an eternity before heading towards the beach. We met them halfway. I was so relieved we all hugged and we didn't want to let go. There was no way we could continue our holiday after that so we were very relieved when someone from El Al security came to tell us that there was a plane coming to take us home.

When we saw the Israeli aircraft at the airport we knew we were in safe hands. It was like being back in Israel. We went home in the prime minister's plane. I don't know if people from other countries were as well looked after.

The best thing was coming back during the Hanukah holiday. All the family visited and that made life become normal very quickly. We all had trauma counseling after we came back.

That helped us cope with our fears. Rotem has a fear of buses and will rarely go on them. But on the whole we decided that we will go on living. My husband now has a fear that when the whole family is together we are at risk and every time we see something on the news, a bombing here or the bombing in Madrid, all the memories come flooding back. I always remember the fear that my daughters were dead.

There is nothing worse for any parent. We are all much more nervous. I go out but I always make sure there is a security guard at the restaurant. I get nervous in crowds. Since Kenya, we have been abroad. Everybody said that the best thing to do was to get straight on a plane. We know there is danger everywhere. We went to Ireland and my daughters have been to the United States and England. They have to phone home every day, which is something they would not have done in the past.

We have managed to get by but the memory is always there.

Just yesterday I was sitting on the balcony and I remembered the image of my husband crying after the explosion because he thought our two daughters were dead. Conal Urquhart

· This article was amended on Tuesday August 12 2008. The text has been amended to remove a web editing error in the penultimate paragraph of Eileen Byrne's contribution. This has been corrected.