A German court ruled yesterday that the only man convicted anywhere in the world over the Sept. 11 attacks must remain in custody despite new evidence said to cast doubt on his involvement. Lawyers for Mounir El Motassadeq, sentenced to the maximum 15 years earlier this year on more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder, had asked for his release after a fellow Moroccan was freed from custody last week.
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It followed evidence passed through Germany’s federal crime office quoting an informant saying that neither Motassadeq nor the other accused, Abdelghani Mzoudi, was part of the Al-Qaeda cell involved in the 2001 attacks. Motassadeq’s lawyer, Josef Graessle-Muenscher, confirmed yesterday’s ruling but did not want to give further details. His appeal against conviction is currently going through Germany’s federal criminal court. Although Mzoudi was unexpectedly freed from custody last week, his trial is still going on. He also faces charges of accessory to the murder of more than 3,000 people, based on the death toll in the suicide attacks in New York and Washington, and membership of a terrorist organization. The evidence last week is thought to have come from Ramzi Bin al-shibh, also known as Ramzi ibn Al-Shaiba, an alleged senior Al-Qaeda operative who is now in US custody, although no name has been officially given. The informant named only four people involved in the Al-Qaeda cell in Hamburg, northern Germany — three of the hijackers, including their alleged ringleader Mohammed Atta, and Binalshibh. |