Mounir El Motassadeq
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Mounir El Motassadeq (Arabic: منير المتصدق, his name is also transliterated in various other ways) (born April 3, 1974) is a Moroccan member of al-Qaida who assisted some of the organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Motassadeq first came to Germany in 1993 and moved to Hamburg in 1995, where he studied electrical engineering in college. Little is known of his activities at this time, but he did move into the Hamburg cell apartment owned by Mohammed Atta and lived in by many other people who would later go on to lead the September 11, 2001 attacks. The 9/11 Commission Report states that "[a] witness has recalled Motassadeq saying that he would kill his entire family if his religious beliefs demanded it. One of Motassadeq's roommates recalls him referring to Hitler as a 'good man' and organizing film sessions that included speeches by Bin Ladin."
On May 22, 2000, Motassadeq flew to Istanbul, and from there to an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. He soon returned. When the four 9/11 leader went from Germany to Afghanistan to train, Motassadeq remained in Germany and helped keep their affairs in order while they were gone. He assisted in financial and family matters, and helped keep their travels quiet. German police were able to wiretap Motassadeq, but apparently did not discover any incriminating information.
In February 2003 he was convicted in Germany of over 3,000 counts of accessory to murder. As of April 2004 he is the only person to have been convicted in direct relation to the September 11 attacks, but the sentence ran into problems on appeal. Though the German Justice Ministry pressed the United States to allow Ramzi Binalshibh to testify, the U.S. refused, and the verdict and sentence were set aside. (The same problems led to the acquittal of Abdelghani Mzoudi, another accomplice.) Motassadeq is now free. A new trial is expected in mid-2004.
See also
External links
- The Final 9/11 Commission Report (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/index.html)
- http://www.unknownnews.net/040305stonewalling.html
- http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/8383056.htm
- http://www.unknownnews.net/040206secretjustice.html -- on the acquittal of Abdelghani Mzoudi, which boosted Motassadeq's appealde:Mounir al Motassadeq