9/11 suspect 'did not know plan'

[DreamTone7]

What a surprise.

[MIKE BURN]

Quote:

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BBC/London, 08/11/2004



The man charged with helping the 11 September plotters "knew nothing about the plan", a German court has heard.



Summaries of interviews with al-Qaeda suspects in US custody were read out at the trial of Moroccan Mounir al-Motassadek on Wednesday.



The US had earlier said it would not allow its al-Qaeda suspects to testify at Mr Motassadek's retrial.



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



The summaries 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 would 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.

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[Seismic Anamoly]

Quote:

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



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

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Thank you, Germany, for trying to put a Killer scumbag where he belongs.



American authorities....what's up with this?? Maybe there's a good reason; I'd like to hear it.