September 11 relatives confront accused in German court

Five relatives of September 11 victims confronted the man on trial for supporting the attacks yesterday, recounting with emotion their suffering since their loved ones perished and demanding justice.

The five co-plaintiffs sat facing the defendant, Mounir El Motassadeq, the first suspected plotter to stand trial anywhere for the attacks on September 11, 2001. The Moroccan student is charged with being an accessory to 3,045 murders in New York and Washington.

Stephen Push, whose wife Lisa died on the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon, told the Hamburg court: "I am testifying because I believe, before the court delivers its verdict, it should hear the human side of the tragedy.

"I believe the punishment for the crime should be commensurate with the magnitude of the loss and suffering," Push said, his voice occasionally choking with emotion.

He told the five judges he would lie awake at night wondering how his wife had suffered, whether she had been killed quickly by attackers sitting next to her or had time to take in her imminent death.

He told of their hopes of retiring together in California and her dream of writing a novel.

"She was only 42 years old. The terrorists stole half of her life. I believe it would have been the better half," Push said.

Deena Burnett, whose husband Tom led the charge against the hijackers on the plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field, told of four harrowing calls from the flight as her husband resolved to storm the cockpit.

She held aloft a picture of her three daughters and urged the court: "Like Tom, you have the advantage of time and information to act and make a difference... My request to you is to show the same courage as Tom by holding the defendant responsible for the criminal acts of terrorism and murder."

Motassadeq, only a few metres away, sat impassively through the testimonies.

Push said he did not expect to sway the court's judgment, but urged the judges to take the personal stories into account for sentencing in the event of a guilty verdict, hoping they would not accept that Motassadeq was a minor player.