Mounir el-Motassadeq, one of the two men jailed in connection to the most deadly terrorist attack on American soil, has been released early after 15 years in prison — and has reportedly enjoyed a “hero’s welcome” back in his home country of Morocco.
“In the first sighting of him since he was deported from Germany following his early release from prison, he was seen being greeted by well-wishers as he returned from prayers at his local mosque,” reports the Daily Mail, which tracked the 44-year-old 9/11 “treasurer” down to a suburb in Marrakesh. “A friend of the family described scenes of jubilation on his return and said people were coming from all over Morocco to see him.”
El-Motassadeq was convicted in 2007 in Germany of helping to carry out the 2001 terrorist attacks that left 2,977 people dead on September 11, 2001. The other man convicted in connection with the attack is Zacarias Moussaoui, who is currently serving six life sentences in the U.S. One of El-Motassadeq’s friends in Germany was Mohammad Atta, one of the Al Qaeda leaders in Hamburg who helped crash the plane into the North Tower.
“El-Motassadeq grinned and said he was too busy to speak as he shook hands with old friends in the street outside his home, a three-storey semi-detached house which belonged to his deceased father Ibrahim,” the Daily Mail reports. – READ MORE