Trial told of Moussaoui ‘lies’

PROSECUTORS in Zacarias Moussaoui’s death penalty trial in Alexandria, Virginia, yesterday sought to unravel his claims that he knew nothing of the September 11, 2001, attacks, arguing that al-Qaida members are carefully trained to lie when caught.

FBI agent Michael Anticev, testifying for a second day, offered the jury a lesson on al-Qaida cover stories and the organisation’s techniques of deception when cell members are questioned.

Moussaoui’s lawyers are portraying the 37-year-old French citizen as a pathetic loner who dreamed of becoming a terrorist but was shut out of September 11 planning and considered by one al-Qaida leader as “cuckoo in the head”.