Friday, July 01, 2005

German's put 9/11 linked terrorist on trial... again

HAMBURG (AP)-[off the wire, no link]-A Sept. 11 suspect who fled his native Germany before the attacks told his wife in an e-mail he wouldn't return for fear of being handed over to U.S. authorities, according to evidence presented at a trial Friday.

Said Bahaji is wanted on an international arrest warrant by Germany on suspicion he helped Sept. 11 suicide pilots Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah as they plotted in Hamburg.

He fled the northern port city shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks and is believed to be in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

His e-mails, intercepted by German security services, were read aloud in the retrial of Mounir el Motassadeq, 31, who is also accused of providing logistical support to the Hamburg al-Qaida cell.

[...]El Motassadeq was convicted in 2003 of more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder and membership of a terrorist organization and sentenced to the maximum 15 years. But the conviction was thrown out last year and a retrial was ordered after an appeals court ruled that he unfairly denied testimony by key al-Qaida suspects in U.S. custody.

Damn 3,000 counts against him. How is that not a life sentence? He's damn lucky he's in Germany because we'd execute him and a heart beat.

And why is the conviction thrown out? Because he didn't have enough terrorists testify on his behalf? Because we just don't know how hard it is to be a terrorist these days? "It's just not the glamorous lifestyle that it used to be, your honor. We face real hardships now. Just listen to the sob stories of these other terrorists..." Boo-hoo-hoo. Woe is me.

Just execute him.