scoone
01-23-2004, 02:41 AM
HAMBURG, Germany (*******) - Iran's secret service had contacts with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network ahead of the September 11 attacks on the United States, a German court heard on Thursday.
Two members of Germany's Federal Criminal Police told a court in Hamburg a former Iranian spy had informed them of the contacts and had also said he tried to warn Washington about the attacks in mid-2001, but that the CIA had not believed him.
The police officers were speaking at the trial of a Moroccan accused of aiding the September 11 attacks.
The Iranian, identified only by his cover name Hamid Reza Zakeri emerged as a surprise witness, postponing the verdict which had been expected to clear the defendant. His credibility is under scrutiny by the presiding judges.
The witness himself was not in court on Thursday, but presiding judge Klaus Ruehle read out passages from an interview with him and questioned the two German investigators who had listened to his testimony.
The Iranian said he had been in a department of the Iranian intelligence service that was "responsible for carrying out terrorist attacks globally," one of the officers said.
"In 2001, a delegation with Osama bin Laden's son was in Iran," the officer said, quoting the witness.
The witness has been summoned to appear on January 29 at the trial of Moroccan Abdelghani Mzoudi, accused of aiding the September 11 attackers.
Mzoudi, 31, was expected to be cleared of several thousand counts of aiding and abetting murder and membership of a terror organization in a verdict originally due on Thursday, but postponed after the emergence of the Iranian witness.
Two members of Germany's Federal Criminal Police told a court in Hamburg a former Iranian spy had informed them of the contacts and had also said he tried to warn Washington about the attacks in mid-2001, but that the CIA had not believed him.
The police officers were speaking at the trial of a Moroccan accused of aiding the September 11 attacks.
The Iranian, identified only by his cover name Hamid Reza Zakeri emerged as a surprise witness, postponing the verdict which had been expected to clear the defendant. His credibility is under scrutiny by the presiding judges.
The witness himself was not in court on Thursday, but presiding judge Klaus Ruehle read out passages from an interview with him and questioned the two German investigators who had listened to his testimony.
The Iranian said he had been in a department of the Iranian intelligence service that was "responsible for carrying out terrorist attacks globally," one of the officers said.
"In 2001, a delegation with Osama bin Laden's son was in Iran," the officer said, quoting the witness.
The witness has been summoned to appear on January 29 at the trial of Moroccan Abdelghani Mzoudi, accused of aiding the September 11 attackers.
Mzoudi, 31, was expected to be cleared of several thousand counts of aiding and abetting murder and membership of a terror organization in a verdict originally due on Thursday, but postponed after the emergence of the Iranian witness.