Insult to 9/11 victims

NO atrocity of the new millennium has shocked the world more profoundly than the 9/11 mass murders, in which almost 3,000 were killed and another 6,000 injured.

Millions will therefore be sickened by the photographs in yesterday’s Mail, showing one of the conspirators laughing in Morocco, where he has been given a hero’s welcome after his early release from a derisory 15-year sentence in a Hamburg jail.

Indeed, Germany’s lenient treatment of Mounir el-Motassadeq, the money-man behind the attacks, adds insult to the suffering of victims and the bereaved on that terrible day.

Those who bend over backwards to be liberal also risk forgetting the vital importance of protecting the public and fitting the punishment to the crime.

Meanwhile in the US, the only other 9/11 conspirator so far convicted is serving six life sentences in a high-security jail, known as the Alcatraz of Colorado. He, at least, won’t be threatening innocent lives again.

BRITISH families of the 9/11 victims last night said the early release of one of the terrorists would inspire other fanatics to commit mass murder.

They said it was astonishing the German authorities had allowed Mounir el-Motassadeq to return home to Morocco.

Patricia Bingley, whose only child Kevin Dennis died in the World Trade Center attack, said: ‘I thought once they caught these terrorists, that would be it – they’d be away for life.

‘If they are not going to kill them or hang them, they should be in prison for life. Other terrorists will see this and know they can get away with mass killings.’

Pauline Berkeley, whose 37-year-old son Graham died in the attack, said she hoped el- Motassadeq would ‘ rot in hell’. ‘ He has only served 15 years, and we have suffered for 18 years,’ said the 81-year-old.

‘It’s not long enough for all the people he killed. They should be in prison for life. They can now do it again, and that is disgusting.’

Politicians and military chiefs also vented their fury at the jubilation that greeted elMotassadeq’s return home to Marrakesh.

The 44-year- old father of three was one of only two men to have been tried and convicted over the atrocity which killed 2,996 people, including 67 Britons.

Following several trials he was sentenced to 15 years in 2007 after being convicted of being a member of a terrorist organisation and an accessory to the murder of 246 passengers and aircrew. But the effective treasurer for the 9/11 pilots was freed on October 15 on condition he leave Germany and not return.

Speaking from her home in Clacton, Essex, Mrs Bingley, 83, added: ‘The pilots who killed all those people are gone – they can’t be put in prison. That’s why the victims were pleased and relieved to see people put in prison. Seeing him there in the street with his family and friends is hard to stomach.’

Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said: ‘Fifteen years in prison and he is released early.

‘I felt it was a ridiculously short sentence to give to somebody who was obviously heavily involved in the murder of so many people.’

9/11 terrorist back on the streets... and treated like a hero Yesterday’s Daily Mail