HAMBURG, Germany (AP) -- A Hamburg court on Thursday acquitted a Moroccan man accused of helping the Sept. 11 hijackers after a five-and-a-half month trial that was only the second anywhere of a suspect in the attacks. Abdelghani Mzoudi, 31, had no visible reaction as presiding Judge Klaus Ruehle read the verdict to the court, keeping his arms folded and looking down toward the floor. Prosecutors had sought the maximum 15 years in prison on more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization. Last February, similar evidence secured the maximum sentence against Mzoudi's friend Mounir el Motassadeq, the world's first Sept. 11 conviction. Federal prosecutors alleged Mzoudi provided logistical support to the Hamburg cell under lead hijacker Mohamed Atta, helping with financial transactions and arranging housing for members to evade authorities' attention. Mzoudi spent time at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan in 2000. Mzoudi's lawyers denied the charges, saying that while their client was friends with many of the Sept. 11 principals, he knew nothing in advance of the plot to attack the United States. The acquittal on all counts came after the court rejected a last-minute motion from a lawyer representing relatives of American victims of the attacks. The lawyer, Andreas Schulz, said his clients had access to "new information" from the U.S. Department of Justice but that he was "not authorized" to tell the court what it was. Published by Associated Press

Commentary: This little bit at the end caught my attention: The acquittal on all counts came after the court rejected a last-minute motion from a lawyer representing relatives of American victims of the attacks. The lawyer, Andreas Schulz, said his clients had access to "new information" from the U.S. Department of Justice but that he was "not authorized" to tell the court what it was. Secret evidence sure seems to be the norm these days. Kudos to a German court for not buying that line of crap. Let's assume for the sake of argument that this U.S. lawyer is telling the truth, when he says Ashcroft is holding secret evidence that establishes this defendant's guilt. That would mean that this guy's guilty -- and the U.S. government has the evidence to prove it -- but the evidence is so secret it can't be used in a court of law. The U.S. government would be saying, straight out, that its secrets are more important than justice for those who killed thousands of Americans on September 11, 2001. Anyone with a sense of justice should find that argument repulsive, sickening, absurd -- and routine, for the criminals masquerading as present-day U.S. government.   =Helen & Harry Highwater=

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