JURIST - Paper Chase: German high court overturns September 11th conviction

The German Supreme Court [Bundesgerichtshof] Thursday threw out the conviction of Mounir el Motassadeq, a 29-year old Moraccon convicted last year of being an accessory to the murders of the more than 3000 people killed in the World Trade Center attacks, and of being a member of a terrorist organization. Motassadeq was the only person anywhere who had so far been convicted in connection with the attacks. Lawyers for Motassadeq had argued that new evidence which had helped acquit another Moroccan man last month on similar charges threw Motassadeq's conviction into doubt. The presiding judge agreed, saying that the rights of the accused had to be protected even in the midst of a war on terror. A retrial has been ordered. VOA has more in English; the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung carries this report in German.