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Moussaoui
may be tried before a military court
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WASHINGTON,
November 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. prosecutors may
move the case against Frenchman Zacarias Moussaoui to a military
tribunal at a U.S. naval base in Cuba, fearing the prosecution could
fail in a civilian court, news agencies reported Sunday, November 10.
U.S.
officials have made no decision on Moussaoui, the only person charged in
the deadly September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. However,
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been briefed on the possibility of
trying Moussaoui before a military tribunal, reported The New York
Times.
The
officials said the proposal to shut down the civilian prosecution of
Moussaoui reflected a growing fear in the government that legal problems
faced by the Justice Department in pursuing the case might be
insurmountable.
According
to the paper, the officials said it was unclear if Attorney General John
Ashcroft weighed in with the White House on the issue, but they said
that other senior officials at the Justice Department did not want to
lose control of the case to the Pentagon and were urging the White House
to hold off on a decision to abandon the trial.
Moussaoui,
34, faces six federal charges of conspiracy and a possible death
sentence for alleged involvement in the attacks with hijacked airliners
that killed almost 3,000 people. His trial is set to begin May 27 with
jury selection.
Moussaoui
admitted being a member of Al-Qaeda and a sympathizer of its leader,
Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, but denied involvement in the attacks.
Arrested
in August 2001 for immigration violations in the northern U.S. state of
Minnesota, Moussaoui was behind bars when the attack occurred.
The
legal problems for the Justice Department center on the refusal of the
Pentagon and intelligence agencies to meet Moussaoui's demand for access
to witnesses and evidence that could aid his defense, the Times
reported.
Among
the witnesses are recently captured Al-Qaeda figures, most notably Ramzi
bin al-Shaiba, a Yemeni arrested in Pakistan last month on suspicion of
being a planner of the September 11 attacks.
"The
Pentagon and the CIA argue, quite justifiably, that they want to keep
these terrorists in isolation and under interrogation," even if
that means abandoning the prosecution of Moussaoui, an official told the
daily.
On
Wednesday, November 6, the judge hearing the case of Moussaoui chided
the U.S. government for giving the defendant a blank video tape in lieu
of an interview Moussaoui requested.
"The
United States' provision of a blank tape is an inexcusable error which
must be corrected immediately," said Judge Leonie Brinkema of the
Alexandria, Virginia federal court where the Frenchman of Moroccan
descent is being tried.
Brinkema
ordered the government to provide him with a fresh copy of the interview
of Ramzi Binalshibh with Al-Jazeera, a Qatar-based television station,
as requested by Moussaoui.
Binalshibh
was (allegedly) one of 19 hijackers who crashed four passenger planes
into U.S. targets on September 11, 2001.
Moussaoui,
who was arrested a month before the attacks, is said to be the 20th
hijacker.
While
Brinkema made her response to Moussaoui's motions public, she left the
original motions under seal, saying they were "replete with
irrelevant and inflammatory rhetoric, including messages to third
parties and a prayer for the destruction of the United States."
Since
Brinkema ruled Moussaoui was mentally fit to defend himself, he
inundated the court with hand written messages, often filled with
sentiments inapplicable to his defense.
