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Bekijk Volledige Versie : Moussaoui stands by 9/11 attacks



mark61
15-04-06, 18:33
Al-Qaeda plotter Zacarias Moussaoui says he has "no regret, no remorse" for the attacks on 11 September 2001 in the US that killed nearly 3,000 people.
When asked by a lawyer whether he would be prepared to kill Americans, he said: "Anytime, anywhere."

Earlier, he turned on his court-appointed lawyers, accusing them of "criminal non-assistance".

He was testifying before jurors who are deciding whether he should be executed for his role in the 9/11 attacks.

Defence lawyers say Moussaoui's life should be spared because of his limited role in the attacks, evidence of mental illness, and because his execution would only fulfil his dream of martyrdom.

'Head of the snake'

Moussaoui took the stand against his lawyers' advice on the opening day of their defence.

He gave a lengthy explanation about why he hates Americans, and criticised US support for Israel.

Cat and mouse

"You are the head of the snake for me. If we want to destroy the Jewish state of Palestine, we have to destroy you first," he told the court.

He turned to the Koran for evidence he said backed up his claims that Muslims are called to fight for supremacy for Allah.

"We have to be the superpower, we have to be above you," he said.

'Trust in God'

During the morning session, he accused his lawyers of having a "vested interest in keeping this case in your hands, above my interest to save my life".

He complained they had failed to obtain a trial venue further away from the Pentagon, one of the areas affected by the attacks, or give him a Muslim lawyer.

"I wanted to have somebody in court who I trust," he said, speaking calmly and politely.

Asked by defence lawyer Gerald Zerkin if he thought he was helping his case when he testified earlier that he had planned to pilot a plane into the White House, he replied:

"I was putting my trust in God, so from an Islamic point of view, yes."

The defence clearly wants to portray its reluctant client as paranoid and unstable, says the BBC's Jane Little at the court in Alexandria, Virginia.

He was repeatedly asked whether he thought his own lawyers wanted to kill him.

"I will say that I believe you have, in the last four years, been doing what I will call more precisely 'criminal non-assistance'," he told them.

"You are American, you are Jewish... You showed clearly to me that you didn't have my best interests at heart."

He also denied he was seeking the death penalty for himself despite papers filed in court which record him as saying that "the greatest jihad in Islam is to speak the truth and be executed for it".

Lies in prison

Earlier, the al-Qaeda plotter could be heard shouting "Victory for Moussaoui! God curse you all!" in the courtroom.

The defence tried to counter prosecution arguments that he would remain a danger if kept alive in prison by producing testimony from a former prison officer.

James Aiken said Moussaoui would gradually deteriorate if sentenced to life in prison.

Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, is the only person convicted in the US in connection with the 11 September attacks.

The jury deciding his fate has already declared him eligible for the death penalty.

Although he was in jail in Minnesota at the time of the attacks, jurors ruled that lies told by Moussaoui to federal agents kept them from identifying and stopping some of the hijackers.

Die man ga je toch niet executeren. Stuur m terug naar St Cloud ofzo en laat hem boodschappen doen voor zijn moeder, en de keukenvloer schrobben.