When Mounir al-Motassdeq left the Fulsbüttel Prison in Hamburg on the morning of October 15, 2018, everything was orchestrated to the smallest detail: hooded SEK police officers took the Moroccans, who were handcuffed, by helicopter to Helmut Schmidt Airport. From there we continued to Frankfurt. In the evening, the 44-year-old, accompanied by two federal police officers, started the "Royal Air Maroc" flight AT811 to Casablanca.
The deportation caused a worldwide sensation. Because Motassadeq is not just any case.
The squat, almost timid black-bearded man is the only convicted terrorist cellmate who attacked the World Trade Centers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on September 11, 2001. More than 3000 people died. From Hamburg, the later judgment, Motassadeq had supported the death pilots by money transfers.
Consequently, they showed themselves relieved Hamburg, as Motassadeq was lifted. Interior Senator Andy Grote announced that they had "drawn a line under this chapter". Finally. For years Motassadeq had employed the judges on the Elbe. In a marathon trial, the Higher Regional Court sentenced him in 2006 after almost endless turns to 15 years imprisonment. As the term came to an end in 2018, the authorities minutely planned to deport him on the day of release.
However, the parties underwent an explosive breakdown.
For example, prison staff at Fuhlsbüttel Motassadeq paid his so-called inmate's account on the day of his release - as was the case with every inmate. Prisoners can save their pocket money of around € 30 per month and their wages for prison work.
In the case of the terrorist helper, a lot came together. According to SPIEGEL information received shortly before the deportation Motassadeq an envelope with around 7000 euros in cash.
More than just embarrassing
The bundle of cash is again busy with the judiciary. A spokeswoman confirmed on SPIEGEL inquiry that the public prosecutor's office Hamburg against the prison administration, because of a violation of the Foreign Trade Act.
The background to this is that the Moroccan, because of his membership of the terrorist group al-Qaeda, is on almost all terrorist lists worldwide, by which all financial means of the terrorists were frozen and any payments to them were banned.
For Hamburg, the case is more than embarrassing. Obviously no one in Fuhlsbüttel prison came up with the idea, in the case of Motassadeq, of re-examining whether money can be paid out to the world-famous terrorist helper.
Although the prison had planned the deportation together with the security authorities for weeks to ensure a smooth running, the administration obviously treated the world-famous Motassadeq like any other prisoner.
The Bundesbank took the case less easily. Formally, the institute monitors the compliance with the financial sanctions and reported the violation of paragraph 18 of the Foreign Trade Act already eight days after the deportation. After a short examination, the public prosecutor's office initiated a formal investigation on 23 November and is now investigating who has ordered the clearly illegal payment to Motassadeq in Fuhlsbüttel.
A violation of paragraph 18 is not a petitesse. The law provides for penalties of three months to five years for violations of applicable sanctions. In the case of Motassadeq, the prosecutors refer to the EU Regulation 881 of 2002, which froze all financial resources of listed terrorist suspects. Motassadeq was listed in the document under the number 18 from the beginning with his last home address in the Goeschenstraße in Hamburg.
Apart from the investigation in Hamburg, the breakdown could pull even more circles. According to insiders, for example, in the US further research could be added on suspicion of promoting the al Qaeda terrorist group. Since Motassadeq is also listed on lists of the UN, which calls members of Qaeda, the payment of the prisoner account would certainly meet the facts. Above all, the relatives of the 9/11 victims may be interested in such a procedure.
What Motassadeq has done with around 7000 euros, is not known. After his deportation he moved in Morocco initially with relatives in Marakesh, but did not want to speak out to reporters who tracked him there.
In court in Hamburg he had asserted his innocence until the end. The death pilots around Mohammed Atta, he admitted, had been close friends. But he never knew anything about her terror plans.
Video: Chronicle of September 11, 2001
MIRROR TV