9/11 defendant asks for release
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Mounir el Motassadeq, awaiting retrial on charges he is an accessory to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, has asked a Hamburg court to release him from prison pending his new trial.
El Motassadeq's conviction and 15-year prison term were overturned Thursday by an appeals court.
The 29-year-old Moroccan is the only person to be convicted in connection with the attacks in the United States that killed about 3,000 people.
Hamburg court spokeswoman Sabin Westphalen said el Motassadeq asked for his release Monday by fax.
She said a decision on his request would take time because his files -- contained in about 100 binders -- have to be sent from the Federal Criminal Court via the federal prosecutor to the Hamburg court where his retrial will be held.
The files will be studied by the new judge in his case, she said.
This process will take some time, she said, adding it was "highly unlikely" that a decision on whether he will be released from custody would come this week.
Prosecutors have not indicated whether they will oppose the request.
Prosecutors alleged during his trial that el Motassadeq provided logistical support for the Hamburg al Qaeda cell that included lead September 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta, who piloted one of the two airliners that crashed into the World Trade Center.
El Motassadeq consistently denied the charges during his three-and-a-half-month trial.
The electrical engineering student has been serving a 15-year prison sentence after a Hamburg court found him guilty in February 2003 of being an accessory in the September 11 deaths in New York and Washington and being a member of a terrorist organization.
El Motassadeq's lawyers asked the appeals court for acquittal or a retrial, alleging their client was wrongly convicted because the United States refused to allow court testimony by Ramzi Binalshibh, thought to be the Hamburg cell's key contact with al Qaeda.
Binalshibh was captured in Pakistan on the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks and is in U.S. custody.
The appeals court agreed that el Motassadeq was denied a fair trial because the United State refused to provide access to Binalshibh.
However, the presiding appeals court judge, Klaus Tolksdorf, said: "The defendant el Motassadeq is certainly far removed from being clear of suspicion."
CNN's Stephanie Halasz in Berlin contributed to this report.
