Moussaoui Offered To Testify Against Himself
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui offered last month to testify for prosecutors against himself at his death-penalty trial and told agents that he did not want to die in prison, according to last minute testimony yesterday.
The bizarre testimony capped a trial that has seen more than its share of the unusual over three tumultuous weeks. Introduced as part of a brief government rebuttal case, this testimony may be the firmest evidence the 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent hopes for martyrdom through execution and could provide fodder for the closing arguments of both prosecutors and Moussaoui’s court-appointed defense attorneys.
Moussaoui offered on February 2, just before jury selection began, to testify that he was to have hijacked and piloted a fifth plane on September 11, 2001. He did not ask that prosecutors stop pursuing the death penalty in return. He sought only better conditions in prison and a promise not to be called to testify against other Al Qaeda members.
FBI agent James Fitzgerald said Moussaoui told him – in a jailhouse meeting the defendant requested – that he did not want to die behind bars and it was “different to die in a battle … than in a jail on a toilet.” Moussaoui dropped this bid after he learned that he had an absolute right to testify in his own defense.
On Monday, he stunned the court by asserting that he was to fly a 747 jetliner into the White House on September 11, despite having claimed for three years that he had no role in the plot.
The defense closed out its case yesterday by using two high-ranking Al Qaeda operatives to rebut their own client’s claim that his plan to attack the White House was part of the September 11 attacks.
The leaders of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist group cast doubt on whether Moussaoui was part of September 11, one portraying him as a misfit who refused to follow orders.
Testimony from five Al Qaeda members was read to the jury as defense attorneys tried to undo damage Moussaoui might have done to his case when he testified against their advice.
