A court in Hamburg handed down the maximum possible sentence for the offence of being an accessory to murder today to Mounir el Motassadeq, who was a close friend of the suicide pilots.

Motassadeq was found guilty of financing the men and helping to provide the trappings of a normal student life to them as they prepared their attack.

Motassadeq's case had been referred to the Hamburg court for sentencing today after he was convicted by a federal appeals court of the offence in November.

In lengthy closing arguments, Prosecutor Walter Hemberger pressed for the maximum term for the offence, telling the court that Motassadeq had known that the hijackers intended to use planes to kill many people and accusing him of lying and showing no sympathy for the victims. Motassadeq had denied any involvement in the plot.

The sentence follows November's ruling by the federal appeals court that Hamburg judges had in 2005 wrongly acquitted el Motassadeq of direct involvement in the attacks - even though the court sentenced him to seven years in prison for belonging to a terrorist group.

The court convicted el Motassadeq as an accessory to the murder of 246 passengers and crew members aboard all four jetliners used in the attacks and ordered the state court to set a new sentence.

El Motassadeq was a close friend of pilots Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah when they lived and studied in Hamburg.

He has acknowledged training at an al Qaida camp in Afghanistan and that he was close to the three hijackers, but insists he knew nothing of their plans.

However, the federal appeals court said evidence showed el Motassadeq knew that the hijackers planned to hijack and crash planes.

It found that his actions - for example, transferring money, and helping the hijackers keep up the appearance of being regular university students by paying tuition and rent fees - facilitated the attacks.

The federal court also said it was irrelevant to el Motassadeq's guilt whether he knew of the plot's timing, size or targets.

The sentencing hearings mark the third time that the Hamburg court has considered el Motassadeq's case.

But it may not be the end of the saga that started with his arrest in November 2001 and has featured two full trials.

El Motassadeq was convicted and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison in 2003, but that verdict was overturned by a federal court the following year - largely because of lack of evidence from al-Qaeda suspects in US custody.

At a retrial that resulted in the 2005 conviction, the US provided limited summaries from the interrogation of, among others, Ramzi Binalshibh, a suspected liaison between the Hamburg hijackers and al-Qaeda.

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