Posted on 01/09/2007 6:08:10 AM PST by Valin
A GERMAN court has sentenced a friend of the September 11, 2001, hijackers to 15 years' jail for being an accessory in the murders of 246 people aboard the aircraft used in the terrorist attacks. The sentencing on Monday of Mounir el Motassadeq is a potentially decisive milestone in a complex and politically sensitive case that has taken five years to go through the German courts. In 2005, the court in Hamburg found the 32-year-old Moroccan guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation - a lesser crime - and sentenced him to seven years in jail. But last November, an appeals court overturned that ruling, saying he had played a direct role in plotting the hijackings. "It was a violent crime that was carried out," the presiding judge of the Hamburg court, Carsten Beckmann, said on Monday, explaining the sentence, which was the stiffest possible under the criminal guidelines.
Motassadeq went to Germany in 1993 to study engineering and became involved with a radical Islamic group in Hamburg that included two of the hijackers, Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi. He is one of only two people to be convicted in the 2001 terrorist attacks. The other, Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, is serving a life sentence in the US. Motassadeq's lawyer, Udo Jacob, said his client planned to appeal, either to the European Court of Human Rights or by demanding a third trial in Hamburg based on new evidence. He has already filed an appeal with the Federal Constitutional Court, the highest German court.
When given a chance to address the court, Motassadeq turned to the son of one of the victims, Dominic Puopolo, and delivered an emotional statement. "I understand your suffering," Motassadeq said. "The same thing is being done to me, my kids, my parents, my family. My future is ruined."
Mr Puopolo, a computer consultant from Florida whose mother was on one of the hijacked planes, replied that Motassadeq would be free one day and would have a chance to rebuild his life, an opportunity denied his mother.
The enemies of America are nothing if not persistent. This applies equally to al Queda and the democrat party.
Why? Didn't we deserve it? Sarcasm/off
The wheels of justice roll slowly in Germany, but at least they still roll.
I'm just disapppointed that he only gets 15 years.
Vindictive..right, but I'm ok with that.
"I understand your suffering," Motassadeq said. "The same thing is being done to me, my kids, my parents, my family. My future is ruined."
Cry me a river, you stinking towel-head! Consider yourself lucky you aren't being tied to a post and scourged till dead!
Hmm. . .15 years. If he serves his full sentence, he should be able to move to the Netherlands at just about the point when Sharia law is imposed.
In Germany, is 15 years 15 years? Or do they get time off for good behavior?
Oh well, all is not lost, he can do missionary work in prison.
The German courts appear to remember 9-11 much more vividly than the Democratic party does.
Did something happen on that day? WAIT! You're not talking about the hangnail that Angelina Jolie got? Yes I remember it now, it was horrible, the pain she had to suffer.
Poor baby says his future is ruined. He should have been executed, IMO.
I couldn't agree more. Bullets must be either in short supply or exhorbantly pricey in Germany these days. It should only take one, and I'm happy to send them one of mine, should the need arise. Blackbird.
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