| Sept 11 suspect walks out of jail AP - The only September 11 suspect ever convicted walked out of a Hamburg jail with a big smile, released less than two-and-a-half years into a 15 year sentence after judges ruled the evidence against him was too weak to hold him pending a retrial. Mounir el Motassadeq, whose conviction on charges of aiding the September 11 plotters was overturned last month, seemed euphoric as he left the court building with two friends and his lawyer, saying nothing but laughing as reporters peppered him with questions. The Moroccan, who had been behind bars since his November 2001 arrest, immediately headed home to his flat in a Hamburg suburb near the technical university where he previously studied, to be with his wife and two small children. Explaining their decision, the Hamburg judges said evidence for the main charges against el Motassadeq - more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder - was no longer "urgent" because testimony from an al-Qaeda suspect in US custody was lacking. El Motassadeq was ordered to stay in Hamburg and report to police twice a week. The accessory to murder charges remain in force, along with a charge of membership in a terrorist organisation. But freeing el Motassadeq was a fresh blow to September 11 prosecutions after the same Hamburg court acquitted his friend and fellow Moroccan Abdelghani Mzoudi of identical charges in February. The court's decision infuriated a spokesman for Americans whose relatives were killed in the September 11 attacks. Stephen Push said he remains convinced of el Motassadeq's guilt. "We don't want to see people who are involved in a conspiracy to kill our loved ones go free," said Push, a founder of the New York-based Families of September 11 group, whose wife was aboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon."These people should be in prison," he said in a telephone interview from Virginia. In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli expressed disappointment over Motassadeq's release. "We believe the evidence against him is strong and we believe he is a dangerous guy," Ereli said. El Motassadeq, 30, has acknowledged training at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and being close friends with Hamburg-based suicide hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah. But he has denied knowing of the plot to attack the United States. He had been serving the maximum term in a Hamburg prison since being convicted in February 2003 of giving logistical help to the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell. An appeals court last month threw out el Motassadeq's conviction and ordered a retrial starting on June 16, saying he was denied a fair trial because the US government refused access to his friend Ramzi Binalshibh - a Yemeni captured in Pakistan on the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. He is believed to have been the Hamburg cell's main contact with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, and defence lawyers say he might be able to testify that el Motassadeq was not involved in the plot. The ruling also cited the lack of Binalshibh testimony. Prosecutors said they would not appeal. Prosecutors have alleged that el Motassadeq was privy to the plot to attack the United States and helped cell members conceal their involvement while they lived and studied in Hamburg. They say the former electrical engineering student used his power of attorney over al-Shehhi's bank account to pay rent, tuition and utility bills, allowing the plotters to keep up the appearance of being normal students in Germany. He also signed Atta's will. El Motassadeq explained both as things he simply did for friends. Defence lawyer Josef Graessle-Muenscher predicted the retrial would fail on the same grounds as the first one unless the United States provided more evidence. "I would like the Americans to really open all their books and give all the files and witnesses we need for there to be a chance for a fair trial," he said. Push said he remained hopeful of a conviction in the retrial. "From what I can tell, proper procedures were not followed by the prosecutors. I hope that they can do a better job in a subsequent trial and put him back behind bars," he said. But new evidence that could help el Motassadeq at his retrial emerged at a Hamburg court hearing on Friday where lawyers sought his release. The court was presented with an intercepted 2003 telephone call in which suspected cell member Said Bahaji told his wife that he and others close to the hijackers knew nothing of the planned attacks. Also presented was a 2002 letter from Bahaji to his mother in which he wrote "Mounir didn't know anything". German authorities say Bahaji, a suspected cell logistician, left Germany shortly before the September 11 attacks and remains on the run. If convicted only of the lesser charge of belonging to a terror organisation, el Motassadeq would face a possible 10 year sentence. Absence of testimony from Binalshibh also helped bring about Mzoudi's acquittal in February. Mzoudi's case turned in his favour when the Hamburg court heard a statement from an unidentified source that only Binalshibh and the suicide hijackers knew of the September 11 plot - which could also exonerate el Motassadeq. The court said it believed the source was Binalshibh himself.
©AAP 2004 | 
