Hamburg Trial Opens for 'key Operative' in 9/11 Attacks

The trial opened today of a 28-year-old Moroccan student accused of aiding the Hamburg terrorist cell involved in the September 11 attacks on the US, which included the lead suicide hijacker Mohamed Atta.

Prosecutors allege that Mounir el-Motassadeq, who is being tried in a Hamburg state court amid high security, was a key operative who helped the practical running of the cell.

He is the first September 11 suspect outside the US to stand trial and could face life in prison if convicted on charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation, as well as more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Mr Motassadeq trained at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan and helped the Hamburg cell with logistical support leading up to attacks, the prosecution claims.

When terrorist pilots Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah left Hamburg in 2000 to begin flight training in Florida Mr Motassadeq stayed behind, filtering money through an account to al-Shehhi in the US, according to the indictment.

Mr Motassadeq admits close ties with members of the Hamburg cell, but he says he was not privy to their attack plans and never traveled to Afghanistan. He has told investigators he paid utility, rent and school bills for al-Shehhi, but transferred no money to the US, according to Hans Leistritz, one of his two lawyers.

Police deployed extra officers and blocked the busy street in front of the Hamburg superior court building for the trial's opening. Metal detectors and guards were set up at side entrances, the only way for visitors to enter. "The security measures are at a high level," said police spokesman Rolf Kunz, refusing to discuss further details of the precautions.

Photographers were ordered out of the courtroom before Mr Motassadeq appeared. Journalists and spectators watched the proceedings from behind a bulletproof glass window.

Mr Motassadeq was arrested in Hamburg two months after the attacks, and is one of two men in Germany held in connection with the September 11 attacks. The other man, Abdelghani Mzoudi, a Moroccan living in Hamburg, was arrested this month on charges of supporting a terrorist organisation.

Germany's chief federal prosecutor, Kay Nehm, has said the hijackers knew by October 1999 that they would attack the US with aeroplanes, but that the idea is likely to have originated elsewhere in the al-Qaida network. Both were united by "hatred of world Jewry and the United States", Mr Nehm said when he announced Mr Motassadeq's indictment in August.

Mr Motassadeq came to Germany as a student in 1993. By 1995 his German was good enough to win him a place on Hamburg technical university's electrical engineering program. He met his Russian wife Maria, who had converted to Islam three years before, in Hamburg, and during the same time met Atta and other future cell members.

Mr Motassadeq's wife and sister, who lives in Morocco, were expected to attend the trial. His father had wanted to come from Morocco, but the German foreign ministry rejected his visa for undisclosed reasons.

With more than 160 witnesses due to testify, the trial was expected to go beyond the scheduled three months. A panel of five judges will hear the case and lead the questioning, as is custom in German law.