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.