| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Second Hamburg Trial Begins |
| 2003-08-14 |
| A Moroccan accused of aiding al Qaeda in the Sept. 11 terror attacks was a follower of radical Islam and took part in the plot from the start, prosecutors alleged on the first day of his trial Thursday. Abdelghani Mzoudi, 30, faces charges of 3,066 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization for allegedly supporting lead hijacker Mohamed Atta and other members of the al Qaeda cell in Hamburg. "His actions were designed to support the terror attacks," federal prosecutor Matthias Krauss said in presenting the charges against Mzoudi. "He was integrated into the plans from the beginning." Mzoudi listened quietly to the charges against him, occasionally bowing his head or talking with his lawyers. He faces a possible 15 years in prison -- the same sentence handed down in February to fellow Moroccan Mounir el Motassadeq, the first Sept. 11 terrorist to stand trial. Mzoudi’s lawyers have said he will not testify. However, in response to a judge’s questions, he briefly described growing up in his native Marrakesh. "I was born the son of a sharecropper..." "My mother taught me the good values of Islam, honesty, not to steal and not to kill," said Mzoudi, wearing a dark blue sweater and a full beard. "Except kaffirs and zionists, or people going to work on a Tuesday morning in September". Mzoudi is accused of taking care of financial matters in Hamburg for alleged cell member Zakariya Essabar while he was training at one of Osama bin Laden’s camps in Afghanistan in 2000. He also allegedly made sure Essabar’s finances were taken care of by a third person during his own trip to Afghanistan. Essabar is wanted by Germany on an international warrant. Whereabouts currently unknown. The indictment also alleges Mzoudi helped conceal the whereabouts of Atta, suicide hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi and Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni in U.S. custody who is believed to have been the Hamburg cell’s key contact with al Qaeda. Mzoudi found a room in a Hamburg student residence for Binalshibh and al-Shehhi that allowed them to stay in Germany unnoticed, and he allowed al-Shehhi and Atta to use his Hamburg mailing address while they were taking flying lessons in Florida, the indictment says. Defense attorney Michael Rosenthal told the court that the charges were full of unproved assumptions and reflected a poor understanding of other cultures — apparently a reference to the ties among Arabs in a foreign country. "It’s a cultural thing...you wouldn’t understand". Guel Pinar, Mzoudi’s other lawyer, questioned prosecutors’ portrayal of Mzoudi as an Islamic radical and called for Binalshibh to be called to testify — something the United States refused to allow in el Motassadeq’s trial. I almost expect to see Ramzi as a commentator on CNN...his services are much in demand these days. Hope they’re reading his fan mail in prison. Mzoudi told the German magazine Der Spiegel in November, 2001 that he had been friends with all three Hamburg-based suicide pilots but didn’t know their plans. Fifteen years is not nearly enough. |
| Posted by:seafarious |
| #1 I posted the AP article. Here's a better link with more trial details and a much better look at the case being provided by the defense. Interesting quote from the defendant: "I am actually a Berber, arabized by Islam". |
| Posted by: seafarious 2003-8-14 3:35:51 PM |