Freed 9-11 plotter treated like a hero
Sick celebration as ‘treasurer’ home early
Picture: ROLAND HOSKINS/SOLO SYNDICATION A TERRORIST jailed over the September 11 atrocity has received a hero’s welcome home in Morocco after being freed early.
Mounir el-Motassadeq got 15 years for accessory to murder, after helping the plane hijackers receive cash.
He was described as “treasurer” for the extremists, who killed 2,977 people in 2001.
The 44-year-old is now reportedly living comfortably in a suburb of Marrakech with his wife and children.
El-Motassadeq, who was studying in Germany before his arrest, was deported as part of the conditions of his early release. He was flown out by German special forces and police last Friday.
In the first sighting of him, he was met by well-wishers after visiting a mosque.
A family friend described “scenes of jubilation” on his return and said visitors were coming from across Morocco. One neighbour, named only TRAINING CAMP Bin Laden as Hayat, told how residents celebrated his homecoming.
She said: “We are very happy. The neighbours were not afraid to find out he was back. During the first and second day after he was released the streets were full of people coming to see him.”
El-Motassadeq had close financial links to the 9-11 terrorists and knew mastermind Mohamed Atta well.
Atta flew one of the planes into the Twin Towers at New York’s World Trade Center.
El-Motassadeq now lives in a three-storey house, which he inherited from his late ATROCITY Horror as planes hit Twin Towers in 2001 father Ibrahim, with his mother and Russian Muslimconvert wife Maria Pavlova.
They have a daughter, 18, and two sons, aged 17 and 12.
It is believed Maria lived with him in Hamburg before his arrest in November 2001.
After the 2003 court case, el-Motassadeq was convicted of membership of a terror group and an accessory to murder, and – after an appeal and a retrial – jailed in 2006.
Officers had found he had power of attorney over a bank account owned by hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi, arranged a bank transfer for cell members and signed Atta’s will.
Detectives also discovered he attended an Osama bin Laden-sponsored al-Qaeda training camp in the past.
Four planes were hijacked. Courts ruled he knew three would be crashed. But when sentenced, he shouted: “I swear by God I did not know what they wanted to do.” Tell us what you think: yourvoice@mirror.co.uk