A German court today refused to extradite an al-Qaeda suspect to Spain after ruling that Europe’s new wide-ranging arrest warrant is invalid under German law.

The ruling, a blow to Europe’s post-September 11 counter-terrorism plans, upheld an appeal by Mamoun Darkazanli, a German-Syrian dual national, whom Spanish authorities accuse of providing the al-Qaeda terror network with logistical and financial support.

The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that the European warrant violated the German constitution and the suspect’s basic rights, and was thus invalid.

"He must be set free following this verdict, which is a blow for the government in its efforts and fight against terrorism," Brigitte Zypries, the German Justice Minister, said.

Mr Darkazanli, 46, appears in a 1999 wedding video with two of the three 9/11 suicide pilots - Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah - who lived and studied in Hamburg along with Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker.

Mr Darkazanli has never been charged in Germany, whose constitution prohibits the extradition of its own citizens for trial. He was taken into custody in October at Spain’s request, and his case was seen as a test of the new European arrest warrant - a system meant to allow the swift cross-border handover of terror suspects - which came into force in Germany last August.

“Thank God,” said his wife Brigitte Darkazanli, reached
at the couple’s Hamburg apartment by telephone after the
verdict. “When one is sitting innocent in prison it’s a
terrible thing. I’m going to be glad to see him home.”

His wife reiterated his claim that though he knew those involved in the September 11 attacks, he was not privy to their plans. “He didn’t have anything to do with any part of the whole story,” she said.

An EU spokesman insisted that the arrest warrant would survive the German court ruling. Martin Selmayr said that the ruling did not declare the European arrest warrant unconstitutional, but merely the German national law which implements it.

"From a first reading, it’s a judgment that declares null and void the German implementation law, not the European arrest warrant," Mr Selmayr said in Brussels. He added that the court in Karlsruhe said the German law did not make full use of provisions to protect suspects’ rights under the European directive setting up the arrest warrant.

Mr Selmayr admitted that the court’s ruling was a blow to European anti-terror plans in the short term, because the warrant will not apply in Germany until a new national law on implementing it is introduced. In the longer term, however, he said that the ruling could strengthen the warrant by making clear the protection offered to suspects’ rights.

Mr Darkazanli is among 41 suspects, including Osama bin Laden, indicted by Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish judge who has been investigating al-Qaeda. He faces up to 12 years in a Spanish prison if convicted of membership or a terrorist organisation.

The United States has labeled Mr Darkazanli’s Hamburg-based trading company a front for terrorism. He appeared on US suspect lists after the attacks of September 11, 2001, but has denied any links to bin Laden or to the attacks.

German police questioned him shortly after September 11, but he was freed for lack of evidence and continued to live in Hamburg.

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