- The retrial of a Moroccan man convicted of involvement
in the September 11 attacks appeared to be in doubt last night after the
Bush administration refused to allow two key al-Qaida suspects to give
evidence. On the first day of the new trial of Mounir el Motassadeq, a
court in Hamburg was told that the US had refused to allow its al-Qaida
suspects to be questioned in Germany.
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- Mr Motassadeq, 30, is accused of plotting the attacks
in 2001 together with Mohamed Atta and other members of Hamburg's al-Qaida
cell.
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- Washington's announcement came as Mr Motassadeq's defence
lawyer tried to have the case thrown out. Josef Graessle-Muenscher told
the court it would be impossible to find out what had really happened on
September 11 because al-Qaida suspects in US custody had probably been
tortured.
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- "In this swamp of torture and prison camps, no court
can ascertain the truth any more," he said in an intervention detailing
US abuses of prisoners, especially at Guant·namo Bay in Cuba.
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- His assertion drew an angry response from some of the
relatives of people who died on September 11, in Hamburg to hear Mr Motassadeq's
trial.
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- Dominic Puopolo, whose mother died, said he found the
argument "very offensive" and irrelevant. "You're desecrating
the memory of 3,000 people who died, including my mother," he told
Reuters.
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- German prosecutors say that Mr Motassadeq was friendly
with three of the suicide hijackers, including Atta, helped plan the attacks,
and was a member of a terrorist group. Mr Motassadeq has admitted knowing
the hijackers but said he had no idea of their plan.
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- In February 2003 Mr Motassadeq became the first and only
person to be convicted in connection with the attacks, and was sentenced
to 15 years in jail. But in March this year a higher court overturned the
verdict, ruling that the original judges had no access to crucial testimony
from Ramzi bin-al Shaibah, a key member of al-Qaida's Hamburg cell who
was captured in Pakistan in 2002. It ordered a new trial.
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- Yesterday it emerged that the US would not allow access
to Bin al-Shaibah or other al-Qaida captives, despite German requests.
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- In a letter to the German embassy in Washington, read
out in court, the US authorities said they had to protect the sources and
methods of the security services.
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- It said that "interactive access" to such prisoners
could hamper their interrogation and lead to secret information, including
about terrorist threats, being divulged. It did offer, though, to provide
declassified transcripts of interrogations.
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- The US decision casts doubts on the new hearing and comes
after months of tension with Germany over the issue. Many believe Mr Motassadeq's
acquittal is now a foregone conclusion. The case continues.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1280523,00.html
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