Sept. 11 Trial

A Moroccan convicted as an accomplice in the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States protested his innocence on Friday in a German court as his sentencing hearing began.

"I swear before God that I did not know that they were in America," Mounir el Motassadeq cried, referring to three of the attackers, including presumed ringleader Mohammed Atta, to whom he has been linked. "I swear before God that I did not know what they were planning."

"There are so many claims that do not add up -- I can refute everything... but you don't want to know the truth," the bearded 32-year-old added, turning to the state prosecution.

Motassadeq faces up to 15 years in jail when the court in Hamburg hands down his sentence on Monday.

Lawyers want suspension

In November, Germany's highest appeals court found that he had been an accessory to murder in the suicide attacks on New York and Washington more than five years ago. It also found him guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization.

The court referred the case for sentencing to Hamburg, the northern city where as a student he had befriended the men who would later fly hijacked passenger planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

On Friday, Motassadeq's lawyers challenged the legitimacy of the lower court and demanded the process be suspended. They argued that the bench had been "hastily and randomly" assembled and was therefore unconstitutional.

Presiding Judge Carsten Beckmann said the bench would deal with the defense's arguments on Monday before sentencing Motassadeq.

This is expected to bring an end to a marathon legal process spanning five years though a justice official said on Friday that Motassadeq could again appeal his new sentence.

First person convicted in attacks

Motassadeq, a father of two, was arrested in late 2001. In 2003, he became the first person to be convicted over the attacks and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

But the federal court in Karlsruhe, in southwestern Germany, overturned that verdict on the grounds that US authorities had refused to allow the court to question top Al-Qaeda suspects held in US custody. It ordered a retrial in Hamburg.

In 2005, Motassadeq was given a seven-year prison sentence for the lesser crime of belonging to a terrorist organization but was cleared of abetting mass murder.

The judges found there was no evidence to show that Motassadeq had been directly involved in planning the September 11 attacks.

Playing a role

Still, he was found to have handled bank transfers for members of a Hamburg-based terror cell which included Atta -- while the future hijackers were pursuing flight training in the United States -- and to have helped cover up their whereabouts.

That verdict was scrapped in November when the Karlsruhe court found that Motassadeq had played a role in the death of the 246 passengers and crew of the four aircraft used in the attacks.

It said that he had "facilitated and supported the attacks."

German authorities have indicated that they will deport Motassadeq to Morocco once he has served his sentence.

He told the court on Friday that his pregnant wife and their children live with his parents in Morocco.