Hijacker spoke to girlfriend about waging ‘holy war’

ONE of the September 11 hijackers transformed from a western-oriented man into a fervent Muslim who often talked about waging a jihad or holy war, his former girlfriend told a German court yesterday.

Sat, 16 Aug, 2003 - 01:00

Philip Blenkinsop, Hamburg

“He was a lovely man, very nice, rather introverted. He only became really religious at the end,” Aysel Sengun, a German-born doctor, said of Ziad Jarrah, who US officials believe flew the hijacked jet that crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.

Ms Sengun testified at the Hamburg trial of Abdelghani Mzoudi, a Moroccan man accused of helping Jarrah and other attackers.

He is only the second September 11 suspect ever brought to trial. Fellow Moroccan Mounir El Motassadeq was sentenced to 15 years by the Hamburg High Court in February. Mzoudi, a 30-year-old electrical engineering student, is charged with 3,066 counts of aiding and abetting murder, and membership in the Hamburg al-Qaida cell that led the attacks on US cities.

Like Motassadeq, prosecutors say Mzoudi handled money for a plotter, helped cover for the absence of others while they were in Afghanistan or taking flying lessons in the United States, and trained at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan himself. Defence lawyers argue Mzoudi did little more than befriend and help fellow Muslims living abroad and say his paying of student fees and other bills was in no way central to the September 11 plot.

Ms Sengun recounted how she had met the Lebanese Jarrah when he came to Germany in 1997 and the two became close. Jarrah disappeared from November 1999 to February 2000 and returned with a plan to train as a pilot. Prosecutors say he had been with co-conspirators at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan.

He subsequently headed to the US in June 2000, making Ms Sengun swear not to tell anyone where he was. Jarrah, who she had described as “very western oriented” before, steadily became more focused on Islam. He often talked about waging a jihad, she said.

“He told me it was the greatest joy for a Muslim to wage a holy war.”