This seems to be getting 'curiouser and curiouser', doesn't it?
These are some points I find pertinent from skimming over several articles from different German sites:
The issue of Zakeri's, a pseudonym [Deckname], from what I've read, demanding payment is casting doubt on his credibility. I've read he asked for 1.2 million when he went to the U.S. embassy in Azerbian in 2001. The German reports vary, some say he wants money in return for giving out more information in this case, others say he he's only concerned about living expenses.
The article aristeides pinged me to says Zakeri is a publicity hound. He had been giving reports on both Arabic and Western TV saying Iran wasn't involved, then suddenly told "Insight" magazine in the summer of 2003 that he had known of the 9/11 plots.
The German prosecuter who is interviewing Zakeri, Jost, is saying that Zakeri was able to accurately describe the particulars of the Mykonos bombing in Berlin in 1992, in which 4 Iranian opposition figures were killed. Jost presents this as a corroboration of Zakeri's credibility.
Jost is saying that Zakeri's ID in the Iranian secret service, "N-941-H", checks out (Thus the explanation of the article's title).
Zakeri was known by the CIA, according to Zakeri's own admission. Zakeri says the CIA used him while he was still in service in Iran. German and French information services knew of him as well. This is a dead end for the courts, the article says, because those agencies are and will continue to be mum regarding their sources.
The German court is concerned, anyway, since these revelations by German prosecuter Jost has opened up a great deal of highly confidential information from the inner workings of the usually strictly confidential German secret service to public scrutiny.
Jost, to further complicate matters, didn't refer any of Zakeri's testimany to the German authorities responsible for collecting 9/11 information. Zakeri became known to the 9/11 agency only through happenchance when a member of 9/11 was present during a questioning session. Jost claims he didn't think about having to inform the 9/11 people. The judge isn't buying Jost's explanation.
The judge wants to hear Zakeri's testimony himself next Thursday.
longjack