Moussaoui pleads guilty over 9/11
Zacarias Moussaoui pleaded guilty today to helping al-Qaida carry out the September 11 hijackings and said he understood he could be put to death for his role in the deadliest terror attack in US history.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema accepted the plea at the court in Alexandria, Virginia, making the French citizen, who once lived in London the lone person to be convicted in a US court of the 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Moussaoui, more subdued than in earlier court appearances during which he sometimes ranted at Judge Brinkema, answered her questions politely.
“How do you plead?” she asked him for each of the six felony counts against him.
Each time, Moussaoui answered, ”Guilty.”
Judge Brinkema asked defence lawyer Alan Yamamoto, the only lawyer Moussaoui would talk to in recent weeks, if he was satisfied the defendant understood what he was doing.
“When I have spoken to him, we have disagreed,” Yamamoto said. “He is facing the possibility of death or life in prison. He has told me that he understands that.”
The judge said: “The court is accepting today the defendant’s six pleas of guilty to the six counts of the indictment.
“You are found guilty at this time,” she told Moussaoui.
She said she had discussed Moussaoui’s pleas at length with him earlier.
“He has a better understanding of the legal system than some lawyers I have seen in court,” the judge said.
Moussaoui stood quietly before her today, with two security officers behind him. He was not shackled.
He wore a green prison jumpsuit and had a full beard.
After standing for five minutes to review the statement of facts against him, he asked to sit down. The courtroom was hushed as he reviewed the document, then signed it.
