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.