Posted on 08/10/2004 8:12:13 AM PDT by knighthawk
A Hamburg court retrying suspected al Qaeda terrorist Mounir al Motassadeq will have to forgo the testimony of the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in custody in the US, after Washington refused access to him.
In a letter by the US Justice Ministry read out in the Hamburg court Tuesday, the US underlined its interest in keeping secret the complete transcripts of the interrogations of Ramzi Binalshibh and made it clear that he would not be available for testimony.
"It is the duty of the Justice Ministry to protect its sources and methods," the letter said. It added that "interactive access" to such prisoners could hamper their interrogation and lead to critical secret information, including about terrorist threats, being divulged.
The US however has agreed to answer questions about the conclusions of Binalshibh's interrogation within the legal framework of the requests filed by Germany to nail Motassadeq. a Moroccan national.
Binalshibh's testimony crucial
Binalshibh's testimony was considered by the German authorities to be of central importance to prove the case against Motassadeq, who became the first person to be convicted last year in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
But in March this year a higher court ruled the verdict was unsatisfactory as judges had not had access to testimony from Ramzi Binalshibh, a key member of the al Qaeda Hamburg cell who was captured in Pakistan in 2002. It ordered a new trial for Motassadeq.
German authorities had asked the US for access to six key witnesses including Binalshibh, who is believed to be in American custody at a clandestine location.
But in Tuesday's letter the US said that even information on whether a particular individual is in custody was classified information.
Allegations of torture
While prosecutors on Tuesday renewed their charges against Motassadeq in court, the defendant's lawyer, Josef Grässle-Münscher formally called on the judges to drop the case.
"The door is closed, the legal system closed it and won't reopen it again," he said.
The lawyer said the door had also been closed because of scrutiny of U.S. authorities, whom he accused of preventing a fair trial.
"What we know is that the witnesses from America were tortured, I mean, systematically tortured," he said.
German law prohibits information obtained from a prisoner under duress or tortured to be used in court. If the judges determine torture was used to extract information from Binalshibh, it could be grounds for a dismissal.
"The accusations of torture have to be put before the court," Grässle-Münscher said.
Ernst-Rainer Schudt, the presiding judge in the case, meanwhile empahsized the independence of the court and said proceedings would not be influenced by the public's and other countries' expectations.
Ping
Not real good, that...
I hope the guards didn't put any underwear on his head.
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