Posted on 05/17/2002 5:32:38 AM PDT by Wallaby
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German prosecutors say they plan to charge Sept. 11 suspect arrested in Hamburg
Associated Press Worldstream
May 17, 2002 Friday 5:15 AM Eastern Time
BERLIN
G erman federal prosecutors plan to present charges this year against a jailed Moroccan man they accuse of controlling an account used to bankroll several of the Sept. 11 plane hijackers, a spokeswoman said Friday.
Mounir El Motassadeq, arrested in Hamburg last November, is the only suspect held in Germany with a direct link to the group accused of the attacks on Washington and New York.
German federal prosecutors have alleged that Mounir El Motassadeq had close contact over a period of years to several men in the Hamburg terror cell, including suspected ringleader Mohamed Atta.
German federal prosecutors have alleged that he had close contact over a period of years to several men in the Hamburg terror cell, including suspected ringleader Mohamed Atta. He had power of attorney over hijacker Marwan Al-Shehhi's bank account in the north German city, into which "large sums" were regularly paid from May to November 2000, prosecutors say. Prosecutors have said the account he controlled was used to finance Al-Shehhi and other members of the terrorist group, including Atta and hijacker Ziad Jarrah. Funds were used to support Al-Shehhi during his stay in the United States and to pay for his flight school in Florida, the prosecutor's office said.
A spokeswoman for federal prosecutors, Frauke Scheuten, said the arrested man would be charged sometime this year. She refused to give details, saying the investigation was continuing. It was unclear when he might go on trial.
El Motassadeq studied at Hamburg Technical University, the school attended by Atta and Al-Shehhi. For more than 18 months in late 1990s, he worked as a cleaner at the city's airport without arousing any suspicion, airport officials have said.
Scheuten refused to comment on a report in this week's edition of Der Spiegel magazine that German investigators found evidence linking the Hamburg terror cell to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network - a connection German authorities have said they cannot confirm.
During the search for bin Laden, Afghan police found a letter from the Hamburg technical school to Al-Shehhi informing him that his enrollment was canceled because he failed to attend classes, Der Spiegel reported. Investigators believe the letter, which was handed over to German diplomats in Kabul, indicates that the Hamburg cell kept people higher in the command chain in Afghanistan informed about its activities in Germany, the report said.
There are two points to telling this story. The first is that I'm convinced that these guys may have been part of a terrorist organization and that the missing money may very well have been used to fund terrorist activities. I mean, why would 3 or 4 guys make this elaborate and well-executed plot to rob this bank, just for their own sakes, and where is the missing money?
The other point is more relevant to this article. After all these thugs did, stealing all that money and terrorizing the hostages for hours, what do you think happened to them? In the U.S., they would have spent the rest of their lives behind bars. In Germany, they received prison sentences ranging from TWO TO TWELVE YEARS!! Two to twelve lousy years!! I realize that in Germany, a twelve year prison sentence really means twelve years, not three or four like it would here, but for the love of God!! For their heinous crime, they got 2 to 12 lousy years!!
Just something to think about when contemplating what might happen to this 9-11 suspect if he's convicted of anything. Don't expect great things.
With its single spire, the Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame, once the tallest building in Christendom, has dominated the skyline of the French city of Strasbourg for centuries. On Dec. 23, 2000, the marketplace beneath the cathedral was bustling with shoppers and tourists, and the scene was captured on video by a group of men believed to be Algerians who had traveled by car from Germany.The "Five Linked to Al Qaeda Face Trial in Germany; Prosecutors Focus on Alleged Bombing Plans," Peter Finn, Washington Post Foreign Service, A SECTION; Pg. A13; April 15, 2002, Monday, Final Edition, Washington Post"This cathedral is God's enemy," an Arabic speaker said on the shaky 20-minute video, which also recorded jihad battle songs on the car's cassette player as the men allegedly planned a bomb attack on the marketplace. "Here we see the enemies of God as they stroll about. You will go to hell, God willing."
The video captured the group's final preparations to set off a bomb eight days later, during New Year's celebrations, and unleash what could have been one of Europe's deadliest terrorist attacks, according to German police and prosecutors. An intercepted phone call between one of the men seeking more cash and the group's alleged leader, who was based in London, tipped British intelligence to the plot, according to a report by Italy's anti-terrorist police.
The trial of five Algerian men accused of planning to bomb a central marketplace in the French city of Strasbourg as part of an al Qaeda plot in December 2000 began chaotically here today when one of the defendants had to be removed from the courtroom after shouting abuse at his codefendants and a panel of five judges. ""Algerian Accused In Bombing Plot Ejected by Judge; Defendant Disrupts Trial in Germany ," Peter Finn and Erik Schelzig, Washington Post Foreign Service, A SECTION; April 17, 2002, Wednesday, Final Edition, Pg. A08 .They are all Jews," shouted an increasingly agitated Lamine Maroni, 31, who allegedly flew to Germany from Britain on Dec. 5, 2000, to participate in the attack planned for New Year's Eve, when the streets would have been crowded with revelers. "I don't need a defender, God will defend me." ...
... In one of the first major trials in Europe of a terrorist cell linked to the al Qaeda network, Maroni, Beandali, Fouhad Sabour, Salim Boukari and Samir Karimou are accused of forming a terrorist organization, planning to cause an explosion, plotting to commit murder, falsifying documents and various weapons charges.
All five men had trained at terrorist camps run by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan...
The trial, projected to last a year, could open a window on the al Qaeda network in Europe...
One of four Muslim militants on trial in Frankfurt for allegedly plotting a bombing in France was expelled from court Tuesday until further notice for refusing a body-search."Defendant in French bomb plot trial expelled from court ," Agence France Presse, May 7, 2002 TuesdayLamine Maroni, who in past hearings had been ejected for disturbing proceedings, was made to undergo the search for safety reasons after he slashed his clothes with a razor-blade in his cell last week.
He was ordered out of the court at the beginning of the trial on April 16 for repeatedly screaming "Allah is my defender" in Arabic, and complaining that his court-appointed lawyers were Jews. Maroni, Auerobi Beandali, Salim Boukhari and Fouhad Sabour are accused of plotting to bomb a busy public square in the French city of Strasbourg in December 2000.
They and a fifth man, Samir Karimou, all of whom are Algerians, are also accused of being members of a terrorist organization and of training at Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan between 1998 and 2000.
In other developments on Tuesday, Beandali sacked one of his lawyers, Achim Groepper, for passing information on to the media before the trial. Groepper denied the accusation and filed a motion with the court to keep work as the Algerian's lawyer.
Before the hearing first began last month, Beandali said that a media conspiracy had been mounted against him to ensure he would receive a heavy sentence.
In his first testimony, Beandali said he and at least one other person had been plotting to bomb the synagogue in Strasbourg, not the city's famed Christmas market as had been suspected.
He also admitted training at a camp in Afghanistan for nine months but insisted he had not been acting on the orders of the al-Qaeda terrorist network or bin Laden. He said he had no ties with al-Qaeda and that he never identified himself with bin Laden's goals.
Frankfurt prosecutors said they found his testimony hard to believe.
The trial is expected to last about a year.
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