First conviction over 9/11 attacks

A MOROCCAN student was yesterday convicted of more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder for helping suicide pilots in the September 11 attacks on the United States, ending the first trial connected to the suicide hijackings.

Father-of-two Mounir el Motassadeq, 28, was sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison for helping the Hamburg-based al-Qaida terror cell that included Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker and two other suicide pilots.

In addition to the 3,066 counts of accessory to murder, he was convicted of five counts of accessory to attempted murder and accessory to causing bodily injury.

Those charges were added to allow five people wounded in the attacks, including a naval officer at the Pentagon, to join the trial as co-plaintiffs.

El Motassadeq denied the charges during his three- and-a-half month trial, and his lawyers had demanded acquittal.

But Judge Albrecht Mentz sided with prosecutors' argument that a complex mosaic of evidence proved the defendant was "a cog that kept the machinery going".

El Motassadeq has acknowledged knowing six other alleged members of the Hamburg cell Atta and two other suicide pilots, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi; and organisers Ramzi Binalshibh, Said Bahaji and Zakariya Essabar. He says he knew nothing of their plans.

While suspectsdetained in the US face a possible death sentence if convicted, el Motassadeq's 15-year sentence will translate into a minimum 10 years under German law.

The verdict was praised by relatives of September 11 victims who joined the case as co-plaintiffs, as allowed under German law, and some of whom testified against el Motassadeq. Around 20 relatives and survivors joined the case.

Joan Molinaro of New York City, whose son Carl Molinaro was a firefighter killed at the World Trade Center, said she was thrilled.

"I think it's the first small victory we've had since 9/11," Molinaro, who testified in the trial, said. "I kind of feel like: 'Okay Carl, we got one.' I think my son is smiling.

Witnesses testified that el Motassadeq was as radical as the rest of the group, talking of jihad holy war and his hatred of Israel and the US.

El Motassadeq admitted training in one of Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan in 2000.

But he said he was simply providing an innocent service to friends and that he took weapons' training in Afghanistan because he believed all Muslims should learn to shoot.