Only Sept 11 suspect convicted freed from prison

[<bleeding_heart>]

The only September 11 suspect ever convicted was freed by a court today, pending the outcome of his retrial on charges of aiding the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell that included three of the suicide pilots.

Mounir el Motassadeq, 30, smiled broadly as he left the Hamburg prison where he had been held since November 2001.

He walked past waiting reporters without saying a word and was whisked by friends and his lawyer into a car, which took off for an unknown location.

[shirini]

This is so wrong on some many levels, why let him go free?

[fearfulone]

SO you're telling me, in Germany, when someone is going to have an appeals trial or "retrial" they are allowed to go free until the trial begins?! THAS JUST ABSURD!

[DC09]

Pathetic.

[<bleeding_heart>]

US annoyed at release of Sept 11 suspect

The United States has expressed irritation at a decision by a German court to release the only person ever convicted in connection with the September 11 attacks.

The US State Department says there was strong evidence against Mounir el Motassadeq and that he remains a dangerous person.

Last month a German judge quashed that conviction on the grounds the accused had been denied a fair trial because the US refused to release a key witness to give evidence.

Mr Motassadeq is due to face a new trial in two months' time