Jury delivers 9/11 verdict

A FRENCH lawyer representing Zacarias Moussaoui today said his defence team would wage an “at all costs” battle to save his life, after jurors found the al-Qaeda conspirator eligible for execution over the September 11 attacks.

His comments came after Moussaoui, the only person tried in the United States over the deadly 2001 strikes, shouted at the public benches as he was led from court.

“You will never get my blood, God curse you all,” he said.

Moussaoui now faces another round of hearings to decide whether he should in fact be put to death.

Lawyer Francois Roux said: “The defence had hoped that the trial would be over, but the jury decided otherwise.

“We are going to do all we can in an attempt to convince the jury … that the death penalty should not be carried out.”

The second stage of the trial will begin on Thursday, and will include testimony from relatives of September 11 victims, as the jury is shown aggravating and mitigating factors weighing on the sentencing process.

The jury will decide whether Moussaoui should face the death penalty or be jailed for the rest of his life.

Mr Roux said several French witnesses would be called by the defence, either in person, or over a video link.

Early today, Judge Leonie Brinkema pierced the suffocating tension of the seventh floor courtroom, in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, as she read out the verdict.

She declared the jury had found against Moussaoui on three capital counts of conspiracy to commit terrorism, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to destroy aircraft.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, are these … your unanimous verdicts?” she asked, drawing nods from the nine men and three women who had deliberated for 19 hours stretched across three days.

Moussaoui, who stunned the trial last week by declaring he had been picked to fly a hijacked airliner into the White House on September 11, 2001, sat in a trance-like state, muttering what seemed to be a prayer as the verdict was read out, a smile playing across his lips.

Before he was led into court, wearing a green prison jump suit and white-knit cap, Moussaoui had chanted loudly in an adjacent holding cell. “Allah Akbar” (God is great) and other undecipherable shouts were heard.

Relatives of some of the September 11 victims, who sat for days watching court testimony, were in the third row of the courtroom.

“We couldn’t have a better closing, for all of us, even those who don’t believe in death penalty,” said Rosemary Dillard, who lost her son Edy, in the attacks.

Abraham Scott broke down as he remembered his wife Janice, who perished at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

“It’s very emotional… it’s hard to describe. I thought I would be delighted but I wasn’t.

“I don’t think Moussaoui is totally to blame, even though I think he deserves death. I equally blame the government.”

The US government, which saw its failure to stop the attacks exposed in a catalogue of bungles, missteps and mistakes highlighted by defence lawyers, was left to savour a legal victory in the war on terror.

“We are pleased with the jury’s ruling in this important case,” Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said.

“Our efforts on behalf of the victims of 9/11 will continue as we pursue the next phase of this trial.”

AP