Release sought of Moroccan 9/11 suspect

Defence lawyers for a Moroccan man on trial in Germany for helping the September 11th suicide hijackers have demanded his release…

Defence lawyers for a Moroccan man on trial in Germany for helping the September 11th suicide hijackers have demanded his release after the judge said the court had new evidence that might exonerate him.

Judge Klaus Ruehle asked the defence to apply for the release of Mr Abdelghani Mzoudi after he said on Thursday German investigators had obtained new testimony that he did not belong to the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell instrumental in the September 11th, 2001, attacks.

The judge said an unnamed witness gave evidence in November that only suicide pilots Mohamed Atta, Marwan al Shehi and Ziad Jarrah as well as Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, an al-Qaeda leader in US custody, belonged to the Hamburg group.

The witness, who the judge said German investigators had not identified, said the four did not include anybody else in their plans for the suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington.

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State prosecutor Walter Hemberger opposed the request for Mr Mzoudi's release and said the unidentified witness could only be bin al-Shaibah himself, adding his evidence was just an attempt to protect others and cover up details of the plot.

The court is expected to resume proceedings this morning and take a decision on the application in the course of the day.

In October, judges rejected a motion by Mr Mzoudi's defence to have the case dismissed on the basis of testimony by a German intelligence official that the attacks were plotted in Afghanistan, not in Hamburg as the prosecution charges.