Germans are more Just than Americans?

Pull quote: U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft described the freeing of defendant Abdelghani Mzoudi as disappointing, and pointedly remarked that the United States had a different system of judging defendants while protecting national security.

But a justice ministry spokeswoman in Berlin said the government had no choice but to pass on the material to the Hamburg court. Under German law, authorities are obliged to make available evidence which could favor the defendant.