Germany investigates payment to deported 9-11 convict

BERLIN – German prosecutors are seeking a warning and suspended fine for a prison security chief who they say allowed the payment of thousands of euros to a Moroccan convicted of helping the Hamburg-based Sept. 11, 2001 pilots before he was deported a year ago.

Mounir el Motassadeq was deported shortly before completing his 15-year sentence for membership in a terrorist organization and being an accessory to murder.

Prosecutors said Thursday they asked a Hamburg court to punish the prison security chief over the payment of 7,194 euros ($8,000) el Motassadeq accumulated in his prison account, used to hold money saved by inmates.

The money is generally transferred to inmates being released, but el Motassadeq was on a list of terrorist suspects whose assets are frozen and aren’t supposed to receive funds.