Germany: Suspect is linked to a Saudi diplomat

BERLIN A German federal police officer testified in court Tuesday that a raid on the apartment of an alleged member of the Hamburg cell that led the Sept. 11 attacks turned up the business card of a diplomat from the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Berlin and Saudi officials have not responded to German requests to explain how the defendant came to have the card.

An investigator from the Federal Office of Criminal Investigations, known by its German initials, BKA, said in court that the Moroccan defendant, Mounir Motassadeq, also made "repeated" calls to Saudi Arabia from Hamburg and German intelligence had traced the calls to Islamic radicals in the kingdom.

The German magazine Focus reported this week that German officials called their Saudi counterparts for further information on the individuals called by Motassadeq but received "no answer."

A little more meat...."religious affairs", my foot.

The German magazine Focus reported this week that German officials called their Saudi counterparts for further information on the individuals called by Motassadeq but received "no answer."
.
The agent's testimony came as he described Motassadeq's phone records and items seized from his apartment in a raid after Sept. 11, including a credit card belonging to one of the key hijackers Mohammed Atta - all of which suggested that the Moroccan's links with key figures in the Hamburg cell were a lot tighter than he has so far acknowledged.
~snip~
The agent, Joerg Klose, provided few details on the Saudi diplomat except to say that he believed the Saudi worked in the religious affairs section of the embassy. But it was the first airing of any German frustration with Saudi counter-terrorism cooperation,

Friday November 1, 12:57 PM Moroccan Mounir El Motassadeq knew the hijackers, paid some of their bills and trained at an al Qaeda camp, but the first man to stand trial in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States says he had no idea of the plot until the planes struck. Motassadeq completed three days of questioning in court this week, admitting he had lied to investigators after his arrest last November and revealing much about the Hamburg cell believed to have led the attacks. Motassadeq (bottom) with his lawyers Hartmut Jacobi (L) and Hans Leitstritz are seen in this courtroom drawing during the first day of his trial in Hamburg October 22, 2002. Photo by Christine Boer/Reuters (Reuters)

By Erik Illenseer
NBC NEWS

BONN, Germany, Nov. 28 — A few days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Mounir El Motassadeq was in his apartment in Hamburg leading the life of a university student. “I have a big exam coming up, and I want to concentrate on that,” he told a visitor to his home. Two and a half months later, Motassadeq is being called a key suspect in the terror attacks on the United States.

ON WEDNESDAY, the German state prosecutor’s office said police had arrested a 27-year-old Moroccan man by the name of Mounir El M. for his ties to the hijackers who commandeered and crashed four U.S. airlines on Sept. 11.

U.S. investigators have previously identified Mounir El Motassadeq, a 27-year-old electrical engineering student at the Hamburg Technical University, as a suspect in the probe into the terror attacks. German authorities prohibit the release of a suspect’s last name until a conviction has been obtained.

Motassadeq’s apartment, in a typical row of four-story German apartment houses, was only a block and a half away from the home of Mohammed Atta — whom investigators believe was the ringleader of the hijackings.

Motassadeq wasn’t difficult to find in September. He was listed in the Hamburg online phonebook. His name was on the buzzer on the door. A small-framed man answered the door. He was hesitant to answer questions, but he immediately showed recognition of the name Mohammed Atta. “Yes, I know him,” Motassadeq said.

SCHOLASTIC FRIENDSHIP
According to Motassadeq, he and Atta studied together at the Hamburg Technical University, and sometimes walked home together. They spent time at each other’s apartments, and prayed together on Fridays at the local mosque — about three blocks from their homes.

“He was a very kind and friendly person,” Motassadeq said of Atta. “He was always helpful if asked a favor.” Motassadeq denied that he had conspired with Atta to attack the United States.

Motassadeq sought to cut the interview short. Speaking in accented German, he said he had to study for an important exam. “If you want to know more about Atta, talk to the university and talk to the people at the mosque. They know him,” Motassadeq said.
The university had previously released a statement saying that there were up to seven students who may have been members of terrorist cells suspected of planning the Sept. 11 attacks. Of the seven possible suspects, the university said, two had died in the attacks, one had left the school fours years before, and one had yet to register for the new semester. Three students were enrolled in classes. Of those three, two had disappeared. Motassadeq was the only one left.

NBC’s Erik Illenseer is based in Germany.

Nah!

I don't buy that estrangement about the passport and asset confiscation and revocation of citizenship or the assassination attempt by the Saudis.

Spin, PR, misinfo, disinfo to keep us guessing.

If you start with the premise or the hypothesis that alqaeda/osama is a Saudi intel operation to carry wahhabi islam worldwide, as i do, then i don't buy the Saudi Royalty is Osama's target. If fact, they work hand in glove.

That's the way I've started looking at it. Yes, there could be factions and cabals in the Saudi Royalty with differing degrees of love for Osama but none are as ProUS as touted.

What a better cover for a jihadi/wahhabi asset than the wife of the unimpeachable ambassador to the USA. The best spies and agents are always the ones to whom the masses would say: No Way could she be a spy for the jihadis. Her father was killed by them. What about the pull of the rest of her family?

But I see Alqaeda as a proxy arm of SaudiRoyalty, in their alliance with the imams and the clerics, that can be plausibly deniable by the Royals who deal with America as ostensible allies.

Saudis = All Lies, not allies. (Saw it in a cartoon today)

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