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AROUND THE WORLD 1: German Citizen Gets New Trial

Mounir El Motassadeq, the only man convicted in the September 11 attacks, won the right to a retrial on Thursday, March 4, 2004 in a German appeal court. A retrial is granted by a judge in the case of a mistrial or when attorneys find new evidence that could change the opinion and ruling of the court.

Montassadeq was sentenced to 15 years in jail in February of 2003 for his alleged part in the plans to murder over 3,000 people in the 2001 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, and for his membership in a terrorist organization. The Moroccan-born German citizen was a member of a German cell of al Qaeda, the international terrorist organization headed by Osama bin Laden. Montassadeq's al Qaeda group included three of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

After he was sentenced, Montassadeq and his lawyers filed an appeal, meaning they would take his case before a higher court and try the case again in hopes that they could get his jail sentence overturned.

In what was seen as a setback by American and German authorities, Judge Klaus Tolksdorf, who was in charge of the trial, said that however horrible the crime, the country could not abandon the principles of law and justice.

"The fight against terrorism cannot be a wild, uncontrolled war," he said.

Montassadeq continues to insist that he had no knowledge of the plans to attack the Pentagon and the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. He insists that he has done no more than to help the other Muslims living in Germany. His lawyers argued that new evidence was available, which made Motassadeq's jail sentence unfair. The new evidence had freed Montassadeq's friend, Abdelghani Mzoudi, from similar charges. They said they would demand Motassadeq, 29, be released from custody in Hamburg, a German city, when he gets his new trial.

--Written by Hillary Rouse

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