Al Qaeda - Mounir el Motassadeq at court in Hamburg

Hamburg is playing host to the first trial of a September 11 suspected plotter when Moroccan Mounir el Motassadeq appears in court today (22 October 2002). Since I live right arcross the street from the court building at Sievekingplatz, I took some pictures of the scene before I jumped on the bus to work this morning. Crowds and media have been lining up before the court building since as early as 2 a.m. so by the time I got outside (at around 8:30 a.m.) most people allowed to attend the trial were already inside the court building. Quite a few police officers have been called in and streets were closed off around the state court, as you see in the pictures. The entire court building is sealed off. What you don't see (and won't see) is that the accused terrorist will be lead into the court building through an underground tunnel.

Click on the small thumbnail pictures below for larger versions of the images.