Conviction unjust, says man guilty of aiding 9/11 hijackers

A MOROCCAN who was found guilty of helping the September 11 suicide hijackers told a court yesterday his conviction was “unjust” and denied that an al-Qaida cell ever existed in Hamburg.

Mounir el Motassadeq, testifying in the trial of his friend and fellow Moroccan, Abdelghani Mzoudi, cited reports to the US Congress and from German security officials stating the attacks on New York and Washington were planned at al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan.

El Motassadeq insisted in his 10-minute, prepared statement that the September 11 attackers were all recruited in Afghanistan and denied there was ever a terror cell based in Hamburg, where several of the hijackers attended university with him.

“I was unjustly sentenced to 15 years in prison,” el Motassadeq said. “There was no Hamburg cell.”

El Motassadeq, flanked by his attorney, did not mention Mzoudi and refused to take questions from the judges. He shook hands with Mzoudi before leaving the courtroom.

El Motassadeq’s attorney Gerhard Strate said his client made the statement against his recommendation.

“He thought it was necessary, because he was concerned by the fact that the American Congress was given facts other than what was outlined in his sentence here,” Strate said.

The same German court that is trying Mzoudi in February found el Motassadeq guilty of 3,066 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organisation for helping suicide hijacker Mohamed Atta and other members of the Hamburg al-Qaida cell evade authorities.

Mzoudi faces the same charges and up to 15 years in prison, if found guilty. Prosecutors trying to convict Mzoudi are working witness-by-witness to first paint a picture of the terror organisation, then the Hamburg cell, then its intentions, and finally of Mzoudi’s role in supporting it.

But Andreas Schulz, who represents relatives of September 11 victims who joined the trial as co-plaintiffs, said el Motassadeq’s testimony had little relevance to the trial.

“It was false testimony,” Schulz said.

Unlike el Motassadeq, who testified on his own behalf and often questioned witnesses during his trial, Mzoudi has opted against saying anything to the court and has left questioning to his defence team.