Tuesday, August 10, 2004
 Reuters Tue 10 August, 2004:HAMBURG, Germany - Washington has barred German judges access to al Qaeda captives in the retrial of the only September 11 suspect ever convicted, a Hamburg court has heard, throwing the case into doubt.
Mounir El Motassadeq, 30, is charged with plotting the 2001 attacks with Mohamed Atta and others, and membership of a terrorist organisation.
In a letter to the German embassy in Washington, read out in court on Tuesday, U.S. authorities said they had to protect the sources and methods of the security services.
The letter said "interactive access" to such prisoners could... lead to critical secret information... being divulged.
The U.S. decision casts doubts on the new proceedings.
In February 2003, Motassadeq became the first person anywhere to be tried over the September 11 attacks and he remains the only person convicted. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
In March this year a higher court ruled the verdict unsatisfactory as judges had no access to testimony from Ramzi bin-al Shaibah, a key member of the al Qaeda Hamburg cell who was captured in Pakistan in 2002. It ordered a new trial.
The German authorities asked the United States in May to give them access to six key witnesses including bin al-Shaibah, but the U.S. letter said even information on whether a given individual was in custody was classified as secret.
It said it was not possible for the United States to confirm whether the persons named, who also include top al Qaeda figure Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were in U.S. custody or not.[...]
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