(CNN) -- A trial for nine terror suspects accused of having ties to al Qaeda opened in a Belgian court Monday, with the main defendant suspected of nearly launching a terror attack just hours before a 2008 European Union summit in Brussels. That defendant, Malika el Aroud, and her husband, Moez Garsallaoui, are charged with heading a terrorist cell linked to al Qaeda and running a Web site that glorified suicide bombings and urged young Muslims to sacrifice themselves in jihad, or holy war. The couple has long enjoyed a notorious reputation among European counterterrorism services. El Aroud's previous husband, Abdessattar Dahmane, had assassinated Ahmed Shah Massoud, the head of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, in a suicide bombing ordered by Osama bin Laden two days before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.Trial begins in Belgium for nine people accused of having ties to al QaedaTwo main defendats charged with heading a terrorist cell linked to al QaedaKey suspect is 50-year-old woman accused of heading terror cellTrial expected to last until end of March; verdict expected toward end of April
Fourteen people were arrested early that morning in one of the largest counterterrorism operations in _ history. The use of the Internet by the suspected _ cell was instrumental in getting approval recently for a law that will give state security agents power to monitor Internet usage.