9/11 accomplice deported from Germany, sent home to Morocco
BERLIN — A Moroccan man convicted of helping Mohamed Atta and the other Hamburg-based 9/11 suicide pilots as they plotted attacks on New York and Washington was deported Monday from Germany to his homeland.
German authorities confirmed that Mounir el Motassadeq was aboard a plane that had taken off from Frankfurt airport in the evening.
El Motassadeq was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization and accessory to the murder of 246 passengers and crew on the four jetls used in the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
“It’s a good feeling to know that Mr. Motassadeq is out of the country,” Hamburg official Andy Grote said.
El Motassadeq was released shortly before completing his 15-year-sentence on the condition that he agreed to be deported to Morocco. That would allow Germany to re-arrest him if he ever returned.
It wasn’t clear what awaited him in Morocco.
El Motassadeq was convicted of being part of the so-called Hamburg cell, including Atta and fellow 9/11 pilots Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah.
German courts ruled that el Motassadeq was aware the three planned to hijack and crash planes, even though he might not have known specifics of the plot. They said el Motassadeq helped “watch the attackers’ backs and conceal them” by helping them keep up the appearance of being university students paying tuition and rent and transferring money.
El Motassadeq acknowledged training at an alQaida camp in Afghanistan but insisted he knew nothing of his friends’ plans to attack the U.S.
“I swear by God that I did know the attackers were in America,” he shouted at a hearing. “I swear by God that I did not know what they wanted to do.”