Germans Convict Sept. 11 Cell-Mate

But Moroccan Is Acquitted Of Direct Involvement In Attacks On U.S.

(AP)  A Moroccan man accused of helping the Sept. 11 hijackers was convicted Friday of membership in a terrorist organization, but acquitted of direct involvement in the attacks on the United States.

After a year-long retrial, the Hamburg state court sentenced Mounir el Motassadeq to seven years in prison for membership in the al Qaeda cell that included suicide pilots Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah.

However, it acquitted him of more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder, ruling the evidence did not show the 31-year-old was specifically involved in the Sept. 11 plot.

El Motassadeq, a slight, bearded man, watched calmly as presiding Judge Ernst-Rainer Schudt announced the verdict, criticizing U.S. authorities' failure to give more evidence in the case.

The judge said el Motassadeq became part of the Hamburg cell in 1999, before its leading members traveled to Afghanistan and were recruited for the al Qaeda attacks on the U.S.

The court found "indications that el Motassadeq was not initiated in all the details," Schudt said. "Our impression is that the defendant is too soft for such a task."

El Motassadeq in 2003 became the first person anywhere to be convicted in connection with the attacks.

Prosecutors had demanded conviction on all charges and the maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for el Motassadeq. He was accused of helping pay tuition and other bills for cell members to allow them to live as students while they plotted the attacks.

But defense lawyers sought acquittal for the Moroccan, who acknowledges he was close to the hijackers but insists he knew nothing of their plans. They criticized the lack of direct testimony from witnesses, including Ramzi Binalshibh, a key Sept. 11 suspect held by the United States.

At his first trial, el Motassadeq was convicted on all the charges and given the maximum sentence.

But a federal appeals court last year overturned the conviction, ruling that he was unfairly denied testimony from al Qaeda suspects in U.S. custody. El Motassadeq was freed shortly afterward.

Defense lawyer Ladislav Anisic told reporters he planned to appeal the new verdict, which he described as "a semi-acquittal."