9.30am
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia - In a dramatic courtroom reversal, Zacarias Moussaoui on Thursday said he planned to plead guilty to the most serious conspiracy charges in connection with the September 11 attacks on the United States, then suddenly withdrew his attempted plea just an hour later.
Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, began the hearing by telling District Judge Leonie Brinkema he planned to plead guilty to four of the six charges against him -- the four that carry the death penalty.
However, about an hour later, after he was pressed to agree to certain details of the charges, Moussaoui changed his mind.
"Because of my obligation to my creator, Allah, and to save and defend my life I withdraw my guilty plea," he told a packed courtroom in the latest stunning change of events.
Just one week ago, Moussaoui shocked the courtroom by saying he wanted to plead guilty to the charges, that he was a member of al Qaeda and had pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden. Brinkema refused to accept the plea, instructing Moussaoui to think about it for a week.
Moussaoui has been charged with six counts of conspiracy related to the September 11 attacks. The four counts to which he first planned to plead guilty were all conspiracy charges: conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, to commit aircraft piracy, to destroy aircraft and to use weapons of mass destruction.
He also faces two other charges: conspiracy to murder US employees and conspiracy to destroy property.
Moussaoui said he would admit to being involved in a conspiracy, saying he had provided a guest house and training to al Qaeda members, but insisted he was not involved in the September 11 attacks.
The United States blames bin Laden and al Qaeda for the hijacked plane attacks that killed 3000 people. US officials believe Moussaoui, who was detained on immigration charges before September 11, was meant to be the 20th hijacker.
Once Brinkema began posing specific questions, like asking him whether he was part of a conspiracy to commit the hijacked plane attacks, Moussaoui baulked.
He requested a brief recess and upon his return, Moussaoui said he had not anticipated that Brinkema would require him to agree to certain "essential elements" of the charges.
"I cannot do this," he said. "My whole point is to be able to put forward to the American people (what) is my role (in the conspiracy)."
"You want to...link me to certain facts that will ensure my death. I cannot endorse any action that will (lead to) my death," he said.
Brinkema accepted his decision and said the government could not use his earlier plea against him.
"You clearly are not admitting guilt," Brinkema said. "You have a right to go before a jury ... There has been no guilty plea in this case."
Public defender Frank Dunham, one of the court-appointed lawyers with whom Moussaoui refuses to meet, said his client had not fully understood the idea of a guilty plea.
"I think that he found out what the repercussions of a guilty plea were. What it was he had to swallow so to speak, what facts he had to agree to in order to plead guilty," Dunham said outside the courthouse.
"And I don't think he understood that he had to admit 9/11 in order to plead guilty. He showed how serious he is about denying his involvement in 9/11."
Moussaoui had said he wanted to enter a guilty plea to "save my life". He had hoped to be able to convince a jury not to sentence him to death.
Moussaoui's mother, Aicha el-Wafi, supported claims by the defence lawyers -- who have been ordered to remain as stand-by counsel despite the fact that Moussaoui refuses to meet them -- that her son was not mentally stable.
"He's no longer able to think rationally," said el-Wafi, who sat in a front row in the courtroom. "I am very, very happy that there will be a full trial in which truth and (the) facts are going to be established (about) what Zacarias did and did not do."
Jury selection is scheduled to begin on September 30.
- REUTERS
Story archives:
Links: Terror in America - the Sept 11 attacks
Timeline: Major events since the Sept 11 attacks
Moussaoui withdraws Sept 11 guilty plea
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