Germany is about to release an accomplice of the 9/11 hijackers, Mounir al-Motassadek. He served almost his entire 15-year sentence and upon his release will be deported to his home country of Morocco. Morocco insisted that he be sent back flying on a commercial flight, with accompanying police officers.
His fate once in Morocco is uncertain. al-Motassadek has maintained his innocence despite the fact that he was friends with several of the hijackers, including mastermind Mohammed Atta. He was the first person to be convicted for the jet planes crashing into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Passengers forced another plane that is believed to be heading to the White House, to crash in a field in Pennsylvania.
Mounir al-Motassadek was arrested just months after the 9/11 attacks.
He was friends with Mohammed Atta, the alleged pilot of one of the hijacked planes, and knew other members of the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell.
He has also admitted to having spent time at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan in 2000, and having signed Atta’s will.
But precisely what level of involvement he had in the 11 September attacks was the subject of five years of trials, with multiple convictions, appeals, and overturned verdicts.
After the attacks on the US, investigators discovered that Motassadek had power of attorney over a bank account owned by Marwan al-Shehhi: the alleged pilot of a second plane flown into the World Trade Center.
He also arranged a bank transfer for some of the cell’s members and knew when they were in the United States where they acquired their flight training.
It is not known if the United States is requesting extradition to the United States or whether they are satisfied with the 15 years he served