15 years for 'pal' of 9/11 hijackers
Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published:
Monday January 8, 2007
 Hamburg- A Hamburg court on Monday doubled the jail term
for Moroccan student Mounir al-Motassadeq, 32, for plotting the 9/11
attacks in the United States to the maximum 15 years in prison.
Motassadeq had been convicted in 2005 of being part of a terrorist
cell and sentenced to 7 years, but federal appeal judges last year
added a further conviction of accessory to the murder of 246 people
on the four hijacked planes.
The sentencing hearing, which began Friday and was interrupted by
a series of unsuccessful defence challenges, was the fifth time in
court for Motassadeq, after two trials and two appeals relating to
the attacks in September 11, 2001, which claimed around 3,000 lives.
The student was a close friend of three of the hijack pilots and a
member of their prayer group before they moved to the United States
to train as pilots. Although he denies it, judges at two trials were
convinced he knew in advance of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Federal prosecutor Walter Hemberger said the Moroccan had come to
Germany as a guest, attending a university free to study electrical
science, and then plotted the deaths of people of many nationalities
including Germans.
A series of defence motions failed to halt the sentence. The
defence alleged bias by the three state superior court judges, but
separate judges quashed the challenge as the court moved unswervingly
to a quick verdict.
The two previous trials in the same high-security courtroom had
dragged on for months on end.
Presiding judge Carsten Beckmann said at the case opening Friday
that it would be a quick trial, ending Monday, and kept lawyers and
court staff in the court Monday till after 7 pm, hours after the
usual closing time for German courts.
Udo Jacob, one of two legal-aid lawyers in court for Motassadeq,
said despatching the case "at top speed" amounted to prejudice.
Ladislav Anisic, the lead defence attorney, said earlier that even
if sentence were passed Monday, he would continue appeals for his
client.
"This is only an intermediate stage on the way up to the next
court," he said outside the courtroom.
© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency
|
