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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Doug R who wrote (549)	2/6/2004 11:22:47 AM
From: James Calladine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

WHY? US blamed for Sept 11 acquittal as German prosecutors appeal By : Date : 06 February 2004 2235 hrs (SST) URL : channelnewsasia.com BERLIN : German federal prosecutors and relatives of September 11 victims lodged parallel appeals over the acquittal of a suspect in the suicide jet attacks, as the United States came under fire for withholding vital evidence. The failure to convict the second person to be tried anywhere in the world over the 2001 attacks dismayed justice officials in both Berlin and Washington. But most commentators blamed the acquittal on the repeated refusal of US justice authorities to release evidence from a key al-Qaeda suspect in their custody. A spokeswoman for the German federal prosecutor's office said its appeal, announced immediately after Thursday's verdict, had been lodged. Sven Leistikow, a lawyer for relatives of some of the victims, said he too had submitted an appeal. He said the verdict had been "a deep disappointment" for the families. Abdelghani Mzoudi, a 31-year-old Moroccan student, was cleared by the court in Hamburg, northern Germany, of charges of being an accessory to murder and membership of a terrorist organisation. In passing judgment, presiding judge Klaus Ruehle said it was for lack of evidence, not because the court was convinced of his innocence. He cited the refusal of US officials to release evidence from the alleged coordinator behind the attacks, Ramzi Binalshibh, as one of the major factors forcing Mzoudi's acquittal. "The US authorities acted as if guilt and judgment thanks to American will were pre-ordained and as if the German court only had to put its stamp on it," complained the centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily. The conservative Die Welt newspaper said the US attitude had "significantly hindered" the trial. "In a way, the verdict is also a protest by independent judges against the long arm of politics from which the prosecution could not free itself." Binalshibh is an alleged senior al-Qaeda operative who was part of the same Hamburg circle as Mzoudi and three of the suicide hijackers. US authorities, citing national security, refused to let him testify or to allow his written evidence to be used. German authorities plainly have some of that information at hand, but have been forbidden from using it. A US Justice Department spokesman regretted Mzoudi's acquittal but claimed that the United States had given cooperation. The spokesman, Mark Corallo, said the United States had "cooperated to the greatest extent possible in this and other terrorism prosecutions in Germany, consistent with security interests." Nevertheless Stephen Push, a representative of the Families of September 11 relatives' group, criticised US officials for refusing to make information available. He said the group planned to pressure US authorities to try to get them to provide the proof necessary to convict Mzoudi. German Interior Minister Otto Schily said he was disappointed, but sounded optimistic about the appeal. In a sign of German frustration, federal prosecutor Kay Nehm said he hoped the acquittal would spark a discussion "at high political level" in the United States to enable Binalshibh to be questioned, possibly via a satellite link. "There will be a rethink in the United States, because naturally they will also be asking themselves how the German prosecution of Mzoudi has ended like this." Frank Umbach, an expert on US-German ties at the German Council on Foreign Relations, said it was not obvious why Binalshibh's evidence was sealed. The ruling "may well be seen as a defeat in the fight against international terrorism," he said, as there was patently more information available than was released to the court. He said he did not think the failure to convict Mzoudi would affect bilateral relations, but warned it that could affect US willingness to cooperate with Berlin in the anti-terrorism fight.