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Moussaoui Opts for Muslim Lawyer
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| Alleged
Sept. 11 co-conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui has chosen Muslim
lawyer Charles Freeman (R) to assist him in court proceedings |
ALEXANDRIA,
Virginia, June 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Zacarias
Moussaoui, who appeared in court again Tuesday, June 25, in connection
with the September 11 attacks, has been temporarily denied contact
with his Muslim lawyer, according to court sources.
Earlier,
Moussaoui rejected a court-appointed
Virginia
attorney, Alan Yamamoto, to serve as “stand-by counsel” to assist
him to come to court Tuesday when he is re-arraigned on charges of
conspiring with the September 11 hijackers.
Moussaoui
is acting as his own lawyer as he faces allegations that he was
supposed to be the 20th hijacker on September 11, but has asked for a
Muslim lawyer to assist with tasks outside the courtroom, especially
contacting witnesses and crafting documents.
A
federal judge ordered Moussaoui’s chosen “standby counsel,”
Charles Freeman of
Houston
,
Texas
, to appear before the court outside
Washington
.
Freeman,
who has met with Moussaoui at the Alexandria Detention Center and
helped him file two of the 11 handwritten motions he has submitted to
the court since Friday, including one that said, “Stop Undermining
My Constitutional Right to Represent Myself,” reports CNN.
Another
motion stated that Moussaoui is not interested in Yamamoto’s
assistance.
Calling
Yamamato, and any court-appointed stand-by lawyers a “smoke screen
to prevent that evidence in my favor reach me,” Moussaoui wrote,
“Brother Freeman is the only person allowed to speak, file, and
undertake action outside court for me.”
U.S.
District Judge Leonie Brinkema refused to allow Freeman assist
Moussaoui in questioning a government witness and advise him during
Tuesday’s arraignment, because Freeman is not registered to practice
law in
Virginia
and has not formally asked to enter the case as Moussaoui’s
attorney, news agencies reported.
Brinkema
decided earlier this month that Moussaoui, 34, of
France
, is mentally competent to handle his own defense, reports CNN.
Brinkema
gave Freeman until Friday to appear before the court.
Moussaoui’s
request to defend himself was granted after he rejected the three
public defenders assigned to his case.
Also
Monday, prosecutors told Brinkema that Moussaoui’s trial ought to
occur in
Virginia
, as planned and not be moved to another state, as Moussaoui has
requested, reports CNN.
The
defendant argued in a change of venue motion filed in April that a
jury pool picked from areas so close to the Pentagon and the
nation’s capital would be biased with a disproportionate amount of
“loyal” government employees, reports the cable news network.
A
new indictment against Moussaoui is to be read in court Tuesday. The
new indictment no longer mentions Moussaoui’s research into
crop-dusting airplanes.
The
prosecutor also included in the indictment a list of countries in
which Al-Qaeda, suspected of being behind the September 11 attacks,
trains its members:
Malaysia
,
Indonesia
and
Singapore
, as well as the Al-Farouk training camp in
Afghanistan
.
Moussaoui,
33, was indicted in December 2001 on six counts, four of which carry
the death penalty: conspiracy to commit acts of international
terrorism, conspiracy to hijack an airliner, conspiracy to destroy an
aircraft, conspiracy to use arms of mass destruction.
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