9/11 Suspect In German Jail Seeks Release

Mounir el Motassadeq, a Moroccan charged with helping the September 11th suspects based in Hamburg, has asked to be released from a German jail pending his retrial. El Motassadeq was sentenced to 15 years in February 2003 after being convicted of more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization. However, he won a retrial after judges ruled that he was unfairly denied the key testimony of a Yemeni in U.S. custody -- the U.S. government refused to hand over Ramzi Binalshibh, who is believed to have been the Hamburg cell's contact to al Qaeda, or pass along copies of interrogation reports. Josef Graessle- Muenscher, el Matassadeq's defense attorney, expects a ruling early next week. "I think Tuesday, at the earliest, he'll be set free," he said.