9/11 Suspect's Acquittal Stands

A German federal appeals court upheld the acquittal of a Sept. 11 suspect on Thursday, starting the clock ticking on how long the Moroccan can remain in the country.

Abdelghani Mzoudi, 32, was acquitted in February 2004 of charges he helped Sept. 11 hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah in their plot to attack the United States.

Presiding Judge Klaus Tolksdorf said the appeals panel had found no legal errors in the original Hamburg state court verdict.

"We are aware that our decision will not find general acceptance — thousands of innocent people lost their lives in the Sept. 11 attacks," Tolksdorf told the court. "But even in the case of appalling acts, a court is bound by the law. A constitutional state cannot defend itself with means that would force it to give up its standards."

With his student visa no longer valid, Mzoudi now has two weeks to leave the country, said Norbert Smekal, a spokesman for Hamburg's state immigration department.

Hamburg's top security official, Udo Nagel, said his office "stands by its view that Mzoudi threatens the free democratic order and supports terrorist organizations."

"Mzoudi has two weeks time to leave Germany," Nagel said. "He should not be allowed to remain in our country a day longer."

Mzoudi has indicated he will leave soon rather than seeking political asylum or taking other legal measures that could prolong his stay, defense attorney Michael Rosenthal said following the ruling.

"He has 14 days to leave the country and I think he's going to do exactly this," Rosenthal told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He's looking forward to seeing his family again."

Mzoudi was not at the hearing in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe but Rosenthal said he told him via e-mail that he was planning to leave "within the next couple of days."

Mzoudi had been charged with more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization for allegedly providing logistical support to the three Hamburg-based suicide hijackers.

Testimony heard during his trial showed that Mzoudi trained at the same al Qaeda camps as the hijackers and was close friends with them in Hamburg. But Hamburg judges ruled that the prosecution failed to prove he knew anything about their plot.

In their appeal, prosecutors argued that the Hamburg judges failed to rule on whether Atta's group constituted a terrorist organization, making it impossible to determine whether Mzoudi was a member.

Attorney Sven Leistikow, who represented American relatives of Sept. 11 victims as a co-prosecutor, said the ruling was a "disappointment" for his clients.

Mzoudi's return to Morocco could, however, leave him open to "rendition" — a U.S. practice of having foreign suspects apprehended and transferred to another country for prosecution and detention, Leistikow said.

"For the Americans, for the security agencies, it is certainly convenient, but for us here in Germany it is unfortunate this has happened," he said.

Moroccan authorities have said they have no warrants for Mzoudi, and U.S. officials have refused comment on whether they are interested in him.

Rosenthal said his client was concerned that he might be apprehended and turned over to the U.S., but that signs pointed to Washington being uninterested in him.

Mzoudi's friend, Mounir el Motassadeq, was convicted in 2003 of identical charges and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison.

The same panel that heard Mzoudi's case at the Federal Court of Justice overturned el Motassadeq's conviction last year and ordered a retrial, ruling that he had been unfairly denied testimony from al Qaeda captives in U.S. custody — an issue that also contributed to Mzoudi's acquittal.

A verdict in the el Motassadeq case is expected in August. If he is also acquitted, Hamburg authorities have said they will move to expel him back to Morocco as well.