Hamburg, Germany ? After three years of failing to hold anyone accountable for the 9-11 attacks, Germany is preparing to expel accused members of the Hamburg-based cell that led the hijackings to countries with more aggressive records of prosecuting terrorism.

Although two criminal trials still are pending, German officials, legal experts and lawyers involved in the cases said the massive investigation into the al-Qaida cell had been stymied by this country’s lax anti-terrorism laws, unfavorable judicial rulings and a lack of evidence, making it increasingly doubtful that anyone here would be convicted.

The state of affairs is apparent at the judicial complex in Hamburg, where one defendant, Mounir Motassadeq, is being tried on more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization. Despite the gravity of the charges, he is a free man, walking alone from his home to the century-old courthouse each morning, unguarded.

Motassadeq was convicted of the charges last year, making him the only person anywhere found guilty of playing a role in the 9-11 plot to attack targets in the United States. But he was freed in April after an appellate court rejected the verdict as based on flimsy evidence and other legal deficiencies.

A retrial began in August and is scheduled to last at least two more months, but the basis of the prosecution’s case has been undermined by its own witnesses, including one whom the presiding judge accused of “fantasizing” during his testimony. Attorneys for victims of the 9-11 attacks have filed a civil suit against Motassadeq, in part to prevent him from collecting as much as $50,000 in compensation from the German government for wrongful prosecution if he is acquitted.

In another sign of the widespread doubts surrounding the investigation, officials in Hamburg filed papers in July to deport Motassadeq and a second suspect, Abdelghani Mzoudi, to their native Morocco, a pre-emptive measure in case they are found not guilty or receive a light sentence.

German authorities are trying to extradite to Spain another alleged member of the Hamburg cell, Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian-born German national. He has been indicted in Spain for allegedly playing a supporting role in the 9-11 attacks. He has been listed as a terrorism financier by U.S. Treasury Department officials, who have accused him of being a longtime financial backer of al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden.

Germany has been investigating Darkazanli for years but has not charged him with any crimes. He remained free in Hamburg until last month, when he was arrested on a Spanish warrant seeking his extradition.