New evidence not enough to free Mounir El Motassadeq

Mounir El Motassadeq, convicted in connection with the September 11 attacks, will remain in jail despite secret new evidence in a related case that might have freed him, his lawyer said Monday.

Motassadeq, a Moroccan national, is serving a 15 year sentence after being found guilty in February of conspiring with the Hamburg-based al Qaeda cell that, according to Americans, was instrumental in the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. He was the first person convicted anywhere in the world in connection with 9/11.

A German court last week freed another Moroccan, Aldelghani Mzoudi, who was accused of abetting the Sept. 11 attacks and belonging to the Hamburg cell, after German investigators provided new testimony clearing him of all charges.

Mzoudi's liberation prompted Motassadeq's lawyers to seek this latter's release on the same grounds.

Abdelghani Mzoudi, 29, was prosecuted after a witness reported he had received training in Afghanistan in Summer 2000.