Man with ties to Sept. 11 plotters pleads innocence

RETHWISCH, Germany -- A Syrian-born German businessman questioned last week by federal police said Thursday that he and his family knew suspected members of the Sept. 11 terror cell in Hamburg, but knew nothing about any terror plots.

In his first interview since the raid on his home and offices amid allegations he had helped bring terrorists into the country, Abdel-Mateen Tatari said that the 111 Arabs he helped with visas in 2000 and 2001 were business clients, or their relatives.

He said agents were interested in the Arabs he sponsored to come to Germany on tourist visas who included Saudis, Egyptians and Syrians. "I don't issue the visas," he said. "I just hand the local police a letter of sponsorship and they take it from there."

Speaking in Arabic, Tatari said he and his youngest son told authorities about their relationship with Mohamed Atta, believed to be the leader of the suicide hijackers, and others linked to the Hamburg cell, including Mounir el Motassadeq, and Mohammed Haydar Zammar.

"I have nothing to hide and I am sure this whole thing will come to nothing," Tatari said in an interview.

"I never thought that I would face such accusations after all these years and it leaves me with a bitter taste," he said.

Tatari said he knew Zammar -- the man suspected of introducing Atta to al-Qaida leaders in Afghanistan -- from the time he arrived in Germany in 1971 with his father at age 11, but thought he wasn't the conspiratorial type.

"He's a simple man with limited intellect, but he has a huge body and a big mouth," Tatari said. "He is not an extremist, but is certainly a devout Muslim. For people to say that Zammar recruited Atta is like saying a first grader recruited a professor."