Lawyer wants 9/11 guilty plea retracted

A FRENCH lawyer advising the family of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States over the September 11 attacks, yesterday said they hoped to persuade him to retract his guilty plea.

Moussaoui, aged 36, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, told a US court in Alexandria, Virginia, last Friday that he had been handpicked by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to fly a plane into the White House. He pleaded guilty to six counts charging him with conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, commit aircraft piracy, destroy aircraft, use weapons of mass destruction, murder US employees and destroy property. Four charges carry the death penalty.

“We do not support Zacarias Moussaoui’s decision to plead guilty, as he did in the United States last week in the first phase of his trial,” said French lawyer Francois Roux.

Roux is recognised by US authorities as a representative of Moussaoui’s mother, and helped her negotiate regular contact with her son during his imprisonment.

He went to the United States to advise Moussaoui at the start of the affair, but is unable to act as a lawyer there.

Roux said he would do all he could to get Moussaoui to change his mind about entering the guilty plea.

Moussaoui pleaded guilty against the advice of his lawyers, who have said he is not mentally competent to enter the plea. It is not clear if Moussaoui recognises Roux as one of his lawyers.