Evidence linking al-Qaeda to Iran delays September 11 trial

A German judge has delayed his verdict in the trial in Hamburg of an accused accomplice of the September 11 hijackers to consider testimony from a new witness: a former Iranian spy who claims to have evidence that links Iran to al-Qaeda.

The witness also suggests that Iranian agents had advance knowledge of the September 11 plot.

The last-minute evidence adds another twist to the trial of Abdelghani Mzoudi, a Moroccan charged with providing logistical help to the Hamburg-based hijackers who carried out the attacks in New York and Washington.

The case against Mzoudi faltered last month when the judge released him on bail, ruling that evidence from an unnamed al-Qaeda figure in US custody cast doubt on whether the accused knew about the hijack plot in advance.

Accordign to the link below Iran started producing weaponized anthrax in 2001:

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=87698

Iran is producing anthrax, alleges opposition group
Washington |By Joby Warrick | 16-05-2003
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Iran has begun production of weaponised anthrax and is actively working with at least five other pathogens, including smallpox, in a drive to build an arsenal of biological weapons, according to an opposition group that previously exposed a secret nuclear enrichment programme in the country.

The group, Mujaheddin-e Khalq, citing informants inside the Iranian government, claims the anthrax weapons are the first fruits of a programme begun secretly in 2001 to triple the size of Iran's biowarfare programme. The push for new biological weapons was launched in parallel with a more ambitious campaign to build massive nuclear facilities capable of producing components for nuclear bombs, alleged officials of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the Mujaheddin, which seeks the overthrow of the Iranian government.

"We can say with certainty that the Iranian regime now has the capability of mass production of biological material for weapons use," Alireza Jafazadeh, the council's U.S. representative, said in an interview. Although many weapons experts believe Iran maintains at least a rudimentary biological weapons programme, few details are known. The CIA, in an unclassified report released this year, said Iran "probably" maintains an offensive biological weapons programme and likely "has capabilities to produce small quantities" of biological agents.

The opposition group's claims, if true, would suggest that Iran's pursuit of biological weapons is more aggressive than previously believed. The Mujaheddin Khalq, also known as the People's Mujaheddin, is listed by the State Department as a terrorist group, though weapons experts and intelligence officials say many of the group's past claims about Iranian weapons programmes have been largely reliable. The group first exposed a massive nuclear facility built near the town of Natanz to make enriched uranium, which can be used for commercial nuclear power plants or to make nuclear weapons.

The Mujaheddin has been fighting for survival after some of its Iraq-based military camps came under attack by U.S. forces during the war. Although the Mujaheddin claimed neutrality in the U.S.-led campaign against Iraq, the Bush administration decided to bomb Mujaheddin bases in an apparent attempt to thaw relations with Iran. Later, U.S. Central Command arran-ged a ceasefire that allowed the group to keep many of its weap-ons and maintain its camps. But then the Bush administration decided to actively seek its surrender.

Mujaheddin officials said the timing of the release of their report on Iran's bio-warfare programme was unrelated to their problems with the U.S. government. Jafazadeh, the spokesman, said the Mujaheddin had been gathering information about the programme for months and had received critical new details from inside the Iranian government within the past few days.

Weapons experts reacted cautiously to the group's claims, especially the report about smallpox. But several said the group's description of Iran's bio-weapons programme seemed plausible.

"It can't be dismissed out of hand," said William Potter, director of the Centre for Non-proliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

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Evidence linking al-Qaeda to Iran delays September 11 trial

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