French prosecutors say Moroccan should get ten years

PARIS, Sep 29 (Reuters) French prosecutors today called for the maximum prison sentence of ten years for a Moroccan man accused of associating with September. 11 attackers, saying his relationships and movements were evidence of guilt.

Prosecutors accuse Karim Mehdi of ''associating with wrongdoers in connection with a terrorist undertaking'' -- a generic charge that in France covers a wide variety of criminal activity.

Police suspect Mehdi, 37, was in contact with the so-called Hamburg cell which included some of the Arab hijackers behind the 2001 attacks on the United States.

''Even though the investigations ... did not show Karim Mehdi's direct participation in the September 11., 2001, attacks, they lifted the veil on his links to some of the actors,'' the prosecution said in a charge sheet.

Mehdi's relationships, his trips -- including to Afghanistan -- and his declarations while in detention about a planned attack ''constituted sufficient elements to establish his guilt,'' prosecutor Patrick Laberche said in closing statements in the trial that began on Wednesday.

Police believe Mehdi knew Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, suspected coordinator of the 2001 operation, and Ziad Jarrah, the hijacker who took over the controls of the plane which ultimately crashed in Pennsylvania, killing 40 passengers and crew.

Laberche called for the maximum sentence of ten years in prison.

Mehdi told the court that he had met the pair, but only once, during a meeting with a friend. He also denied knowing anything about their plans or having any ties to radical Islam.

He was arrested in June 2003 at a Paris airport after arriving on a plane from Germany. He was en route to the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion.

He told police that it was meant to be a reconnaissance mission ahead of a possible attack on a tourist complex on the French territory, but later retracted the confession, saying it had been given under pressure.

The verdict is expected in a few weeks.

REUTERS BDP RK2124