German court jails 9/11 terror cell member

Claus-Peter Tiemann, Hamburg

The conviction was welcomed by the German government and a victim’s relative after a string of court setbacks. However, the Hamburg state court faulted US authorities’ failure to deliver more evidence as it acquitted Mounir el Motassadeq of direct involvement in the attacks, finding him not guilty of more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder.

El Motassadeq, a slight, bearded 31-year-old, watched calmly as presiding Judge Ernst-Rainer Schudt announced the verdict after a year-long retrial.