Judge berates US failures as 9/11 supporter is convicted [View All]

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August 20, 2005

Judge berates US failures as 9/11 supporter is convicted
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor



A GERMAN court yesterday convicted a Moroccan student of belonging to the al-Qaeda cell responsible for the attacks on America of September 11, 2001, but acquitted him of direct involvement in the murder of nearly 3,000 people.

Mounir al-Motassadeq, 31, was sentenced to seven years in prison for membership of a terrorist organisation, but the judge ruled that the more serious charges were not proven, in part because of a failure by the US authorities to co-operate with the prosecution.

In a three-hour judgment, read out before a court in Hamburg, Judge Ernst-Rainer Schudt said that the US Justice Department had refused to co-operate fully with the German court.

“How are we supposed to do justice to our task when important documents are withheld from us?” the judge asked.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1742264,00.html