The only Sept. 11 suspect ever convicted walked out of a Hamburg jail with a big smile, released less than 2 1/2 years into a 15-year sentence after judges ruled the evidence against him was too weak to hold him pending a retrial.
Mounir el Motassadeq, whose conviction on charges of aiding the Sept. 11 plotters was overturned last month, seemed euphoric as he left the court building Wednesday with two friends and his lawyer, saying nothing but laughing as reporters asked him questions.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Moroccan, who had been behind bars since his November 2001 arrest, immediately headed home to his apartment in a Hamburg suburb near the technical university where he previously studied, to be with his wife and two small children.
Explaining their decision, the Hamburg judges said evidence for the main charges against el Motassadeq -- more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder -- was no longer "urgent" because testimony from an al-Qaeda suspect in US custody was lacking. El Motassadeq was ordered to stay in Hamburg and report to police twice a week.
The accessory to murder charges remain in force, along with a charge of membership in a terrorist organization. But freeing el Motassadeq was a fresh blow to Sept. 11 prosecutions after the same Hamburg court acquitted his friend and fellow Moroccan Abdelghani Mzoudi of identical charges in February.
In Washington, US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli expressed disappointment over Motassadeq's release.
"We believe the evidence against him is strong and we believe he is a dangerous guy," Ereli said.
El Motassadeq, 30, has acknowledged training at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and being close friends with suicide hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah. But he has denied knowing of the Sept. 11 plot.
He had been serving the maximum term in a red-brick Hamburg prison since being convicted in February 2003 of giving logistical help to the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell.
An appeals court last month threw out el Motassadeq's conviction and ordered a retrial starting June 16, saying he was denied a fair trial because the US government refused access to his friend Ramzi Binalshibh -- a Yemeni captured in Pakistan on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
He is believed to have been the Hamburg cell's main contact with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, and defense lawyers say he might be able to testify that el Motassadeq was not involved.
The ruling Wednesday cited the lack of Binalshibh testimony. Prosecutors said they would not appeal.
Prosecutors have alleged that el Motassadeq was privy to the plot to attack the US and helped cell members conceal their involvement while they lived and studied in Hamburg.
They say the former electrical engineering student used his power of attorney over al-Shehhi's bank account to pay rent, tuition and utility bills, allowing the plotters to appear to be normal students. He also signed Atta's will.
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