German Court Convicts Moroccan for 9/11 Links

[steve2470]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/international/europe/19cnd-hamburg.html?hp&ex=1124510400&en=aa4c851c5e4dc71a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

By RICHARD BERNSTEIN
Published: August 19, 2005

HAMBURG, Aug. 19 - A Moroccan man today became the first person convicted in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States when a German court found him guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization and sentenced him to seven years in prison.


After a yearlong retrial, a Hamburg state court sentenced Mounir el Motassadeq to seven years in prison for membership in an al-Qaida cell.

But the man, Mounir el-Motassadeq, 31, was found guilty only of belonging to Al Qaeda and associating with the ringleaders of the Sept. 11 attacks during the time before 2001 when they lived in this north German port city.

Mr. Motassadeq was acquitted on the more serious charge of complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks, with the presiding judge in the trial criticizing the United States for refusing to allow evidence into the trial that might have resulted in his conviction.

"This was a difficult case," the judge, Ernst-Rainer Schudt, said as he announced the verdict. "It didn't make it easier that the United States would not allow its intelligence services to give testimony here."

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[moodforaday]

1. What P.A.T.R.I.O.T. act is good for

"the first person convicted in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks". And the guy got arrested in Germany.