HAMBURG, Germany - A key al-Qaida captive in U.S. custody told interrogators that a Moroccan on trial for helping the Hamburg-based Sept. 11 suicide pilots had no knowledge of the plot, according to a summary read today.

Mounir el Motassadeq, accused of giving logistical aid to the Hamburg al-Qaida cell that included hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah, is being retried after his conviction was thrown out in March on appeal.

The appeal court ruled he was unfairly denied testimony from U.S.-held suspects including Ramzi Binalshibh, believed to be the Hamburg cell's contact with al-Qaida. The retrial opened Tuesday with a U.S. pledge to provide evidence.

Today, presiding Judge Ernst-Rainer Schudt said the Hamburg state court had received a fax from the U.S. Justice Department dated Aug. 9, containing summaries of three detainees' interrogations.

Binalshibh said the only members of the Hamburg cell were himself, Atta, al-Shehhi and Jarrah, according to the letter.

He said that "the activities of the Hamburg group were not known to el Motassadeq". The group was "well known by a number of Arab students," but "Binalshibh said that the people in question had no knowledge of the operative plans of Sept. 11."