German prosecutors failed on Thursday to obtain a retrial of a Moroccan man acquitted last year of complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
In the latest of a series of setbacks for prosecutors in high-profile terrorism trials in Germany, a federal court ruled that the acquittal of Abdelghani Mzoudi was sound and turned down a prosecution appeal against it.
Mzoudi was a friend of lead hijacker Mohamed Atta and other members of the Hamburg cell that led the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, in which nearly 3,000 people died. He has denied any knowledge of the plot.
He was acquitted in February 2004 of complicity in the attacks and of belonging to a terrorist group.
The presiding judge described him at the time as a "fringe figure" and said he was being freed because there was insufficient proof against him, not because the court was convinced of his innocence.
The case led to tensions between Germany and the United States because of Washington's refusal, on security grounds, to allow captured al-Qaida leaders to testify or to provide information from their interrogations. The chief federal prosecutor described U.S. behavior as "incomprehensible".
Despite Thursday's decision, Mzoudi faces the prospect of being deported from Germany. Hamburg authorities say they consider him a dangerous supporter of international terrorism and have vowed to expel him once legal proceedings are over.
