Ex-soccer player accused of planning suicide bomb attack acquitted

A Tunisian man who the Justice Department accused of working with members of Al Qaeda, including Osama bin Laden, to plot a suicide bomb attack against Americans in Europe was acquitted Friday by a Washington, DC, jury of all charges he faced – a rarity in a terror trial.

The federal trial against Nizar Trabelsi – which began in May – ended Friday in unanimous not-guilty verdicts for the three charges he faced: conspiracy and attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction as well as conspiracy to kill US nationals outside the states.

“Innocent. Finally, I am innocent. 22 years,” Trabelsi, a former professional soccer player in Germany, said after members of the jury left following his acquittal, according to his attorney.

Trabelsi was extradited to the US in 2013 after being indicted by a US grand jury in 2006. Prior to his extradition he served a decade in prison in Belgium following a conviction for planning an attack on the Kleine-Brogel Air Force Base, which housed American soldiers in the country in 2001.

“The verdict reflects the best of our legal system,” Trabelsi’s attorney, Sabrina Shroff, told CNN. “Mr. Trabelsi was very lucky – he had an intelligent and fair jury who reached the right verdict.”

“Mr. Trabelsi hopes the government of Belgium will right its wrong – a wrong that cost him 22 years of his life,” Shroff added.

“We respect the jury’s verdict and thank them for their service,” Patricia Hartman, a spokesperson for the US attorney’s office in DC, told CNN.

Prosecutors had alleged in Trabelsi’s indictment that he met with then-al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the Spring prior to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and “offered to carry out a suicide bomb attack against United States interests.” CNN has previously reported that during his 2003 trial in a Belgian court,…