Questions & answers
from Ray Furlong, BBC News:
Q: What exactly was Mr Motassadek convicted of?|
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Mr Motassadek was convicted of being an accessory to more than 3,000 counts of murder. He was found guilty of helping the other 11 September plotters who were based in Hamburg, providing them with logistical support etc.
He was the only man in the world to be convicted in connection with 9/ 11. |
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Q: Why was his conviction in doubt?
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His conviction was put in doubt following last month's acquittal of another Moroccan man, Abdelghani Mzoudi, on the same charges. His lawyers argue key evidence provided by Ramzi Binalshibh would exonerate him.
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Q: What is the role of Ramzi Binalshibh's evidence in all this?
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Mr Binalshibh was also allegedly a member of the Hamburg cell. He was arrested in Pakistan a year after the attacks, and is now in U.S. custody. He allegedly told U.S. interrogators the cell consisted only of himself and three suicide hijackers, including Mohammed Atta -- so by implication Mr Motassadek and Mr Mzoudi were not guilty.
Prosecutors believe, however, that the full transcript of Mr Binalshibh's interrogation would put it in a different light and allow them to secure the conviction of both Moroccans.
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Q: What are the implications for the international fight against terrorism and for trials related to the 11 September attacks?
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The whole thing is an embarrassing setback for the German efforts to fight terrorism in the courts. It points to how complex it is to prove in a court of law that someone took part in acts of terrorism.
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Q: Has Germany been under U.S. pressure to free these men and if so why?
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There is a possibility that if they get freed, Germany will expel them to Morocco -- which will then extradite them to the U.S. However, German officials have voiced frustration at last month's acquittal and are likely to do the same now.
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Q: How can Mr Binalshibh's evidence be seen as reliable?
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Good question. The point the court made in the Mzoudi trial was that because it was unable to cross-examine Mr Binalshibh, it could not determine whether or not he is reliable. So the defendant must get the benefit of the doubt.
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U.S. stonewalling may let another terror suspect off the hook
by Sabine Siebold, Reuters News Agency March 4, 2004
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KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) -- The only man convicted of helping the September 11 suicide hijackers has won the right to a retrial after a successful appeal at Germany's Supreme Court.
Mounir El Motassadeq, a Moroccan, was jailed for 15 years in February 2003 for conspiring to murder nearly 3,000 people in the 2001 attacks on America and for membership of a terrorist organization, a German al Qaeda cell which included three of the suicide pilots.
Presiding judge Klaus Tolksdorf told the court on Thursday the state could not abandon principles of justice, however grave the crime.
"The fight against terrorism cannot be a wild, uncontrolled war," Tolksdorf said.
The successful appeal was likely to be seen by the United States and German authorities as a major setback. German Interior Minister Otto Schily had described the original conviction as an important success in the war on terror.
The U.S. embassy declined to comment on the appeal ruling.
Motassadeq's lawyers successfully argued that new evidence which secured the acquittal last month of Motassadeq's friend and fellow Moroccan Abdelghani Mzoudi had made his conviction unreliable.
They said they would now demand Motassadeq, 29, be released from custody in Hamburg pending his new trial.
Mzoudi's acquittal hinged on information, passed to the court by German investigators, that neither he nor Motassadeq belonged to a core group of plotters in Hamburg who had advance knowledge of the suicide hijack plans.
The information was presumed to have come from U.S. questioning of Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, a key al Qaeda suspect and member of the Hamburg cell who is in U.S. custody. The judge said there was no way for the court to assess its reliability but that it was obliged to give Mzoudi the benefit of the doubt.
Motassadeq's lawyers have said a retrial could prompt Washington to release more information about the attack plot, possibly including bin al-Shaibah's testimony.
Germany's federal prosecutor Kay Nehm criticized the United States last month for failing to make available fuller intelligence from captured suspects that could help to secure convictions. He called U.S. conduct "incomprehensible".
Independent lawyers say Motassadeq unwittingly incriminated himself at his trial with testimony that included an account of a trip to an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. Motassadeq had said he had simply wanted to learn to shoot, telling the court this was a requirement for all Muslims.
ARTICLE CONTINUES 
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Commentary:This story led on NPR news at noon today, and they mention the USA not giving access to the info as THE reason he gets a new trial.
I'm thinking of the outrage from America's "law & order" lobby if the shoe was on the other foot -- if America needed information from another country for a trial of this magnitude, and couldn't get it.
This story leads in Google's 'World News' section -- but hasn't made it to American TV???
This guy's not another 'paintball' Al Qaeda', is he? This is the only Al Qaeda guy in Germany? in Europe? to be convicted -- and he wins a retrial because ... ???
=John C.= |
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Commentary:... because, once again, U.S. state secrets are considered more important than bringing the September 11 terrorists to justice.
How ... odd.
=Helen & Harry Highwater= |
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Germany's federal prosecutor Kay Nehm criticized the United States last month for failing to make available fuller intelligence from captured suspects that could help to secure convictions. He called U.S. conduct "incomprehensible".
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The prosecution's case had hinged on Motassadeq's close friendships with six alleged plotters. He signed the will in 1996 of alleged Hamburg cell ringleader Mohamed Atta, who smashed the first plane into the World Trade Center.
He also transferred money for Marwan al-Shehhi, who piloted the plane that struck the second World Trade Center tower.
Motassadeq insisted he had no advance knowledge of the attack plot and did no more than help fellow Muslims living in a foreign country.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed on September 11, 2001 when 19 hijackers seized control of four airliners over the United States, slamming two into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania after passengers stormed the hijackers.
Published by
Reuters News Agency
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