Germany Won't Send Suspect Back to Jail

Associated Press ^ | 12/23/03 | GEIR MOULSON

[TexKat]

HAMBURG, Germany - A Moroccan charged with aiding a Hamburg al-Qaida cell that included three of the Sept. 11 hijackers can remain free while his trial continues, a court announced Tuesday, rejecting a request by prosecutors to return him to custody.

The Hamburg state court freed Abdelghani Mzoudi on Dec. 11 after German federal investigators presented a statement quoting an unidentified informant as saying that only four people in Hamburg knew of the Sept. 11 plot — not including Mzoudi.

Prosecutors lost a federal appeal against the decision Friday. On Tuesday, the Hamburg court said it had denied their second request to re-arrest Mzoudi, made after a federal agent testified last week that German authorities have more evidence against him.

The court insisted that the government's case against Mzoudi still fails to warrant keeping him jailed.

Mzoudi faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of charges of supporting a terror organization and more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder.

The government's case was weakened this month with the introduction of a new statement believed to be by Ramzi Binalshibh, in U.S. custody since his arrest in Pakistan last year. The statement said that only Binalshibh — the Hamburg cell's presumed contact with al-Qaida — and the three Hamburg-based suicide hijackers knew of the plot.

The court on Tuesday rejected suggestions by prosecutors that Binalshibh had an interest in protecting others involved in the plot.

Based on current evidence, the judges "did not reach the conclusion" that the statements were a protective attempt by Binalshibh, a court statement said.

[TexKat]

Abdelghani Mzoudi

[muir_redwoods]

Perhaps it's time one of our folks from the alphabet soup fraternity got involved in a traffic accident in this jokers part of towm.

"Unavoidable fatality don't ya know. Couldn't be helped. I just lost control of the car and hit this poor fellow."

[Bluntpoint]

Abdelghani Mzoudi has much in common with his German mentors! Same likes and dislikes, ya know!