Posted on 08/28/2003 4:05:48 PM PDT by knighthawk
HAMBURG, Germany - A court trying a Sept. 11 terror suspect said Thursday it would seek testimony from a captured al-Qaida leader who allegedly masterminded the attacks on the United States.
Presiding Judge Klaus Ruehle said the Hamburg state court had prepared a request for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to appear as a witness in the trial of Abdelghani Mzoudi, 30, who is accused of supporting the Hamburg al-Qaida cell that included three Sept. 11 pilots. He did not elaborate.
Given Mohammed's alleged role, he should be able to describe where the attacks were planned, defense attorney Guel Pinar said. Mohammed, al-Qaida's suspected No. 3, was arrested March 1 in Pakistan.
Mzoudi's lawyers have already pressed for testimony from Ramzi Binalshibh, another suspect in U.S. custody who is believed to have been the Hamburg cell's key contact with al-Qaida.
But chances of testimony from either man seemed slim. The court failed to secure an appearance by Binalshibh in the trial of the first Sept. 11 suspect, Mounir el Motassadeq, and German authorities refused to hand over transcripts from Binalshibh's interrogation.
Mzoudi could face a 15-year prison sentence if convicted on charges of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization. The Hamburg court in February sentenced el Motassadeq to the maximum term on the same charges.
On Thursday, a witness whose testimony was vital to that conviction retold her memory of a 1999 conversation in which one of the suicide pilots predicted an attack that would kill thousands.
Angela Duile, 31, said the anti-American outburst by Marwan al-Shehhi came in May or June 1999 at the Hamburg library where she worked.
"I don't know how it happened. It was really spewing forth," she said. "And then he said something will happen, you'll see. There will be thousands of dead. I believe the words 'World Trade Center' also were mentioned."
Pressed by Presiding Judge Klaus Ruehle, she said: "I believe the words were mentioned, but I could not say it 100 percent."
Yet she stood by her account, which also raised questions during el Motassadeq's trial. She explained that she was leaving work when al-Shehhi approached her, and remembered asking the friend who was picking her up from the library what the World Trade Center was.
Testifying later, the friend said he had no recollection of the incident, but conceded that he had a "very bad memory."
"There were occasional incidents with readers who got worked up for one reason or another," said Frank Jankowski, 32. "But I don't let that kind of thing get to me."
Al-Shehhi lived and studied in Hamburg along with fellow suicide pilots Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah, both of whom Duile said she also saw at the library. Mzoudi is accused of providing logistical help to their cell.
To prove the terrorism charge, prosecutors must establish that Atta, al-Shehhi and the others formed a terror cell.
Lawyer Andreas Schulz, representing relatives of Sept. 11 victims who joined the trial as co-plaintiffs, said Duile's testimony was credible and confirmed the plot had been shaped by mid-1999 and strengthened the case against Mzoudi.
Defense lawyer Pinar played down Duile's evidence.
"This testimony really isn't so important — the witness herself says she can't say whether the words 'World Trade Center' were said," she argued.
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