Germany To Give Up Qaeda Suspects

A German court approved Monday the extradition of a Yemeni cleric and another man believed to be his assistant who are wanted to the United States on charges of supporting al Qaeda.

The Frankfurt state court ruled that Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad and Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed could be extradited to the United States on the condition that they would not face the death penalty, said court spokesman Wolfgang Frank.

The court also set the condition that the pair could not face a military or other special court or be held in any confinement centers outside of natural U.S. territory, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Frank said.

The ruling still needs final approval from the German government.

U.S. and German authorities say they learned in December 2001 that al-Moayad was involved in supplying money and militants for Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network as well as to the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas.

According to papers from a Brooklyn federal court released in March, al-Moayad told an FBI informant that he supplied $20 million, recruits and weapons to bin Laden in the years before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Al-Moayad and Zayed were arrested Jan. 10 in Frankfurt, after being lured to a bugged hotel room to meet an informant posing as a wealthy American Muslim, the papers said.

German authorities have declined to comment on whether the men were caught in a sting operation. But the court indicated in a statement Monday that the Yemenis had tried unsuccessfully to fight their extradition by arguing it was illegal to lure them to Germany.

If convicted in the United States, Al-Moayad would face up to 60 years in prison, U.S. prosecutors have said. Zayed, who is believed to be his assistant and faces a conspiracy charge, could be jailed for up to 30 years.

Yemeni officials say Al-Moayad, a leading member of Yemen's Islamic-oriented Reform party, left for medical treatment in Germany 10 days before his arrest. The former legislator suffers from asthma and diabetes.