2ND Fast-track trial for 9/11 man Motassadeq begins


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday January 5, 2007

Hamburg- A fast-track trial for Mounir al-Motassadeq, 32,
the Moroccan student convicted in 2005 of being part of the 9/11
hijackers' cell in Hamburg, Germany, began Friday with a fresh denial
from the Islamist that he had known in advance of the attacks.
It was the fifth time in court for Motassadeq, after two trials
and two appeals, but this time judges can only decide the sentence,
which currently stands at 7 years' jail but could be increased to 15.

Last year appeal judges ruled that his conviction for terrorism
was final and added a further conviction: accessory to 246 murders.

Presiding judge Carsten Beckmann said the sentence might be handed
down on Monday, although the court has scheduled five days of
hearings on dates stretching into February. Only three judges were
assigned to the case, not five as in past terrorism trials.

Motassadeq, who testified at his first trial about his training in
a Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and his friendship with the hijackers,
but remained silent at his second trial, hotly declared his innocence
Friday.

"I can swear before God that I did not know what they wanted to
do," he said, adding that he had not even known that attack leader
Mohammed Atta and two other student pilots had been in the United
States.

Turning to prosecutors, the Moroccan, who has grown his black
beard longer while in a remand jail, said, "You don't want to know
the truth."

His lawyers demanded a halt to the hearings on technical legal
grounds, alleging the panel of three state superior court judges had
been improperly selected by the city judicial committee and that an
appeal to Germany's constitutional court might stay any sentence.

Motassadeq, who was married, did not join the 19 hijackers who
crashed jets into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a
Pennsylvania field. The previous judges say he knew of the Islamists'
plot, but possibly not that thousands would be killed.

Presiding judge Carsten Beckmann said the trial would proceed
while the defence challenges were considered separately.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency