Judge rules out execution for September 11 accused

A JUDGE has dealt a severe setback to the only prosecution arising from the September 11 attacks, ruling that the US government cannot seek to execute Zacarias Moussaoui or introduce trial evidence linking the al-Qaida loyalist to the suicide hijackings.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema punished the government yesterday for refusing court orders to make three high-level al-Qaida prisoners available to Moussaoui.

She forced the Bush administration to choose between taking the dispute over witnesses to a federal appeals court or moving Moussaoui’s case from a civilian court to a military tribunal.