US Refuses Key Testimony in German Terror Trial [View All]

http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1432_A_1294236_1_A,00.html

A Hamburg court retrying suspected al Qaeda terrorist Mounir al Motassadeq will have to forgo the testimony of the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in custody in the US, after Washington refused access to him.

In a letter by the US Justice Ministry read out in the
Hamburg court Tuesday, the US underlined its interest in keeping secret the complete transcripts of the interrogations of Ramzi Binalshibh and made it clear that he would not be available for testimony.

"It is the duty of the Justice Ministry to protect its sources and methods," the letter said. It added that "interactive access" to such prisoners could hamper their interrogation and lead to critical secret information, including about terrorist threats, being divulged.

The US however has agreed to answer questions about the conclusions of Binalshibh's interrogation within the legal framework of the requests filed by Germany to nail Motassadeq. a Moroccan national.

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and in a related article:

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=562542§ion=news

Clash over "torture" charge at 9/11 trial

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - The American son of a September 11 victim accused a German lawyer of desecrating his mother's memory by saying that the U.S.-led war on terror was mired in a "swamp of torture".

Their exchange, across a Hamburg courtroom, came during a dramatic opening session at the retrial of Mounir El Motassadeq, a Moroccan man accused of plotting the suicide hijack attacks of 2001 with Mohamed Atta and others.

Defence lawyer Josef Graessle-Muenscher filed a motion to dismiss the case, saying the truth could not be established because it lay with al Qaeda figures in U.S. captivity who had probably been tortured.

"In this swamp of torture and prison camps, no court can ascertain the truth any more," he said in a long intervention detailing alleged U.S. abuses of prisoners, especially at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

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