Convicted Sept. 11 Suspect Leaves Prison

Apr 7, 1:06 PM (ET)

By DAVID RISING

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) - The only person convicted in the Sept. 11 attacks was freed by a court Wednesday, pending the outcome of his retrial on charges of aiding the Hamburg al-Qaida cell that included three of the suicide pilots.

Mounir el Motassadeq, 30, smiled broadly as he left the Hamburg prison where he had been held since November 2001. He walked past reporters without comment before his friends and lawyer whisked him away in a car to an unknown location.

Lawyer Josef Graessle-Muenscher said el Motassadeq was returning to his wife and two children in Hamburg.

"When I went to pick him up, he was happy and smiling at me," the lawyer told reporters. "Now he's going home to his family.

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