The US' refusal to allow testimony from a jailed al-Qaeda figure prompted a Hamburg judge on Thursday to order the release of a Moroccan accused of aiding the Sept. 11 hijackers.
The judge acted after reviewing new evidence that Ramzi Binalshibh, a suspected member of the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell that planned and executed the World Trade Center attacks, told US interrogators that only he and the three suicide pilots from the Hamburg cell knew about the attacks before they happened. The judge said that while he had strong doubts about the reliability of the evidence, he could not properly evaluate it without testimony from Binalshibh.
The trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in an American court in connection with the attacks, has also been thrown into doubt by the government's refusal to make captured al-Qaeda operatives available for questioning.
PHOTO: AP
The new evidence will force a quick decision about the fate of another Moroccan, Mounir el Motassadeq, who is the only person anywhere to have been convicted in connection with the attacks. That trial was also dogged by concerns that the US government had not been forthcoming with intelligence relevant to the case.
The man who was freed Thursday, Abdelghani Mzoudi, 31, is charged with acting as an accessory in the deaths of more than 3,000 people in the Sept. 11 attacks. While Ruehle granted the defense lawyers' request for an immediate release, the trial, now in its final stages, will continue.
The new evidence, submitted as a letter to the court from Germany's national police, the Federal Criminal Agency, included the testimony of an unnamed witness who said only four members of the Hamburg cell -- the three suspected to have been the suicide pilots, Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah, and an associate, Binalshibh -- knew about the attacks beforehand. "These four people at no time spoke with others about the actual operations or creation of a terrorist cell for inciting a holy war," according to the witness' statement.
But the presiding judge, Klaus Ruehle, told the court that by process of elimination, the witness must have been Binalshibh, a close associate of the hijackers who was arrested in Pakistan exactly a year after the attacks and who remains in US custody.
"We have no doubt that Ramzi Binalshibh is the witness, and assume he was intensely interrogated about the attacks," Ruehle said in court.
The judge's decision also raised questions about the conviction of Motassadeq, who was sentenced this year to 15 years after being convicted on charges similar to those against Mzoudi. His lawyers immediately filed a request for his release and renewed their appeal of his conviction.
"This is a bombshell," said Hans Leistritz, who represented Motassadeq. "It collapses the prosecution's foundation of evidence."
It emerged during the trial of Motassadeq that the US authorities had given information from the interrogations of a number of suspects to German intelligence on strict conditions that forbade revealing details in court. Washington refused requests by the court that Binalshibh be made available for cross-examination.
During both trials, defense lawyers objected that the defendants could not receive fair trials without the testimony of Binalshibh, given his suspected central role in the planning of the attacks and his potential ability to exonerate Motassadeq and Mzoudi.
Ruehle made it clear that although he had doubts about the consistency and veracity of the witness' statements, his decision to release Mzoudi was affected by Washington's refusal to make Binalshibh available.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was