Guilt by association?

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Mounir Al-Motassadeq

A GERMAN court delivered its verdict last Friday in the retrial of Mounir Al-Motassadeq -- the first man worldwide to go on trial over the 11 September 2001 attacks -- after a lengthy and costly trial that could end in an acquittal.

A German federal court overturned the verdict last year and sent the case back to the court in the northern port city of Hamburg.

German authorities believe Al-Motassadeq provided logistical support to his friends from Hamburg's Technical University with full knowledge of their plot. Motassadeq stressed that he had been unaware of his friends' plans and was simply being helpful.

However, Al-Motassadeq admitted to attending a paramilitary training camp run by Osama Bin Laden in early 2000. He later shared a room with suspected top Al-Qaeda operative Ramzi Binalshibh, the self-purported mastermind behind the attacks, as well as the Egyptian Mohamed Atta.

Federal prosecutors have said that Al-Motassadeq is guilty of the original charges on which he was convicted: membership in a terrorist organisation and some 3,000 counts of accessory to murder.

German observers say the prosecution's case has been weakened by the failure of the United States to hand over more information on two top Al-Qaeda operatives in its custody. The Federal Court overturned the verdict on the grounds that the Hamburg judges had not been able to hear potentially exculpatory testimonies of Binalshibh, and Al-Qaeda's suspected number three Khalid Sheikh Mohamed.