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Europe
Access to 9-11 Suspect’s Statements Nixed in Germany
2003-10-24
The German government again refused Thursday to give lawyers access to statements made to U.S. interrogators by the Hamburg terror cell’s suspected al-Qaida contact. The decision complies with conditions set by U.S. authorities, who supplied the statements strictly for use by security agencies. Access to the statements was requested by lawyers defending a Moroccan suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks. A letter from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s office, dated Oct. 22 and read aloud by the judge presiding over the trial of Abdelghani Mzoudi, says Germany’s foreign intelligence agency would be ``discredited’’ if it handed over statements from Ramzi Bin al-shibh. ``The breach of secrecy would make the Federal Intelligence Service appear unreliable worldwide,’’ likely leading foreign agencies to stop supplying information needed to ensure the security of German troops abroad, the letter said.
That's zackly what would happen, intel agencies being more concerned with their data than with political correctitude...
Earlier this week, the Interior Ministry cited similar reasons for barring the Federal Criminal Office - Germany’s equivalent of the FBI - from allowing court access to the material. Mzoudi, 30, is charged with 3,066 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization for allegedly aiding the Hamburg al-Qaida cell that included hijackers Mohamed Atta, Mohammed al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah.
That’s a lot of counts. Even with German sentencing guidelines Mzoudi will be on ice for quite a while.
Mzoudi’s attorneys have argued that the testimony of Binalshibh - a Yemeni captured in Pakistan on Sept. 11, 2002, and now in U.S. custody - is crucial to their client’s ability to pass information back to HQ case. Binalshibh is believed to have been the key contact with Osama bin Laden’s organization. The U.S. Department of Justice already rejected a request for Binalshibh to testify in person. Access to the documents also was denied in the trial of Mounir el Motassadeq, convicted in February on the same charges Mzoudi faces and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Each year of that sentence would expiate the deaths of 204.4 people, or 17 people a month. Roughly every two days in jug wipes the slate clean of one dead American for Mounir...
Mzoudi attorney Guel Pinar said the defense team was considering a response.
Along the lines of "Rats!"
No reply has yet been received to a separate defense request for access to testimony from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected al-Qaida mastermind of the Sept. 11 plot who also is in U.S. custody.
Guess!
Posted by:Steve White

#3  But, it may mean this guy gets off scott free.
I doubt it. The German courts aren't as stupid as ours are. They will find a way to convict him, if they have enough evidence to do so. The fact that he was brought to trial at all strongly suggests they have sufficient evidence to put him away for 30,000 years (10 years per charge, 3066 charges, served non-concurrently) or so.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2003-10-24 12:14:43 PM  

#2  But, it may mean this guy gets off scott free.
Posted by: rkb   2003-10-24 6:02:29 AM  

#1  If the krauts spill, they'll never see another scrap of US intel, or British or Aussie, probably. Not worth it for this shmoe.

And German subpoenae aren't likely to pull much weight with the DOD, anyway.

"No. Next..."
Posted by: mojo   2003-10-24 2:57:15 AM  

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