USA: German 9/11 suspect didn't know of terror plot

9/11 suspect 'not aware of plot'


The man on trial in Germany charged with helping the 11 September plotters "knew nothing about the plan", al-Qaeda suspects in US custody have said.

Extracts of interviews with key suspects, including Ramzi Binalshibh, were read out at the retrial of Moroccan Mounir al-Motassadek.

The US had earlier said it would not allow suspects to testify in Hamburg.

Prosecutors had hoped to use Mr Binalshibh's evidence to reverse the quashing of Mr Motassadek's conviction.

The summaries of interviews were faxed to the court by the US State Department.

Al-Qaeda suspect Mr Binalshibh told US interviewers that "the only members of the Hamburg cell" were himself and hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah.

He said that the activities of the Hamburg group were not known to Mr Motassadek.

The summary said that the group was "well known by a number of Arab students" but "Binalshibh said that the people in question had no knowledge and were not participants in any facet of the operative plans of 11 September".

Similar evidence from the US led to the acquittal in February 2004 of another Moroccan, Abdelghani Mzoudi, tried on the same charges in Germany.
That threw doubt on the conviction of Mr Motassadek, 30, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2003.

Prosecutors believed that the full transcript of his interrogation would put it in a different light and allow them to secure the conviction of both Moroccans.

But in March, the verdict against Mr Motassadek was quashed on the grounds that Mr Binalshibh, a Yemeni national and suspected al-Qaeda lieutenant, did not give evidence.

At the time of his conviction, Mr Motassadek was the only person to have been found guilty in connection with the 2001 attacks on the US.

The Justice Department has said an FBI agent will be sent to give evidence at the retrial.

The German authorities had asked Washington in May to give them direct access to Mr Binalshibh and other witnesses.

But the US letter said that even information on whether a given individual was in custody was classified as secret.

The BBC's Ray Furlong says that even if the court does at some point rule that there is no evidence Mr Motassadek is guilty of helping in the 11 September attacks, he could still be found guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation.

He has himself admitted attending an Al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.



MOTASSADEK CASE
- November 2001: Arrested in Hamburg
- February 2003: Convicted of being accessory to 9/11 attacks
- February 2004: Mzoudi acquitted on same charges
- March 2004: Motassadek conviction quashed
- July 2004: Moves towards deportation to Morocco begin, pending trial outcome