Posted on 01/08/2007 12:23:06 PM PST by NormsRevenge
HAMBURG, Germany - A Moroccan convicted as an accessory to murder in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was sentenced Monday to the maximum 15 years in prison, minutes after telling the son of a woman killed that day "my future is ruined."
A federal appeals court convicted Mounir el Motassadeq, a friend of three of the suicide pilots, in November of knowingly helping the hijackers and sent the case to a state court in Hamburg for sentencing.
Just before Monday's verdict, the 32-year-old defendant spoke with an American whose mother died on board one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center.
Dominic Puopolo Jr., a co-plaintiff in the case, earlier joined prosecutors in calling for the maximum penalty, urging the judges to consider the "human and emotional cost" of the 2001 attacks.
"Anyone who helped in this has earned stiff punishment," presiding Judge Carsten Beckmann said after announcing Monday's verdict.
When the court granted El Motassadeq a final chance to speak, the slightly built, bearded man turned to Puopolo to say, "I understand your suffering. ... The same thing is being done to me, my kids, my parents, my family — my future is ruined."
Puopolo said he forgave el Motassadeq, and reminded him that he would one day be freed.
"You have a chance to rebuild your life and be back with your family. Others don't," Puopolo said. "Your life is not over, but my mom's is."
Defense lawyers said they may appeal to a European court.
The federal appeals court had ruled that the Hamburg judges wrongly acquitted el Motassadeq in 2005 of direct involvement in the attacks, even though they sentenced him to seven years in prison for belonging to a terrorist group.
The appeals court convicted el Motassadeq as an accessory to the murder of the 246 passengers and crew members aboard the four jetliners used in the attacks, and ordered the state court to set a new sentence.
Ladislav Anisic, a lawyer for el Motassadeq, said they would seek a retrial and maybe appeal to the European Court of Justice.
"We have a clear mandate, and that is to ensure that our client receives the acquittal," he said.
El Motassadeq was a close friend of pilots Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah when they lived and studied in Hamburg. He has acknowledged training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan and that he was close to the three hijackers, but insists he knew nothing of their plans.
However, the federal appeals court said evidence showed el Motassadeq knew that the hijackers planned to hijack and crash planes. It found that his actions — for example, transferring money, and helping the hijackers keep up the appearance of being regular university students by paying tuition and rent fees — facilitated the attacks.
The federal court also said it was irrelevant to el Motassadeq's guilt whether he knew of the plot's timing, dimension or targets.
Monday's decision was the latest in a legal saga that started with el Motassadeq's arrest in November 2001 and featured two full trials.
He was convicted and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison in 2003, but that verdict was overturned by a federal court the following year — largely because of lack of evidence from al-Qaida suspects in U.S. custody.
At a retrial that resulted in the 2005 conviction, the U.S. provided limited summaries from the interrogation of, among others, Ramzi Binalshibh, a suspected liaison between the Hamburg hijackers and al-Qaida.
Moroccan Mounir El Motassadeq, left, and his lawyer Udo Jacob, right, are pictured prior the trial at a court in Hamburg, northern Germany, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2007. Motassadeq, a friend of the Sept. 11 hijackers who was found guilty in Nov. 2006 of being an accessory to mass murder, appeared at the court on Monday to a hearing to decide his sentence.(AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer, Pool)
"$100,000 in prize money, a new Amana washer and drier, and 'Jihad -- The Home Game'. Thank you for playing."
Fifteen years? That's it?! In fifteen years, he will be only 47 and still eager, willing, and able to serve as a party to more terrorist attacks.
Boo freakin' whoo. Will he serve the entire 15 years or be let out early? Whatever, it's too short.
Believe it or not, that's a pretty tough sentence for a German Court. I was involved with the SFC Clyde Conrad spy case in the 80's. Conrad was tried in a German Court. He was convicted and received a life sentence. However, under German law, life only means 18 years. In his case, he died after three years in prison, so life was life.
I just love Angela Merkel's Germany. They actually sentenced a terrorist.
Put a bullet in the idiot's skull.
Too bad he wasn't tried here. He and Moussaoui could have had adjoining cells.
"I just love Angela Merkel's Germany. They actually sentenced a terrorist."
The downside being, this probably wouldn't have happened if Schroder was still in charge.
LOL, what do you think of our courts? That the judges depend on the government? Now that would mean we´re as developed as N Korea! No way, in fact, Motassadeq was tried and sentenced even under Schröder, but the delay was because of his appeals to the High Federal Court and the Constitutional Court. Judges are - of course - INDEPENDANT and only obligated to follow the law.
May 2001—(HAMBURG, GERMANY : MOTASSADEQ VISITS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT - See HAMBURG CELL) MOTASSADEQ visits the Stade nuclear plant near Hamburg.
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