Hijacker learned extremism in England, claims brother

Zacarias Moussaoui, the first person to be indicted on charges directly relating to the September 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, picked up Islamic extremism in Britain, his brother said.

Moussaoui’s brother, Abd Samad Moussaoui, said he underwent a transformation when he travelled to England and became involved with a radical form of Islam.

But his mother dismissed that, saying that when she last saw him, in 1997, he did not seem different, or particularly religious.

Aicha Moussaoui questioned why it took US authorities so long to indict her son. ‘‘If they’d had anything real against him, they would have done it right away, no?’’ she said.

After hearing that some of the charges carried the death penalty, Mrs Moussaoui began to weep.

US Attorney General John Ashcroft yesterday released a 30 page indictment against Moussaoui, which he called a ‘‘chronicle of evil’’. Moussaoui, 33, has been behind bars for four months.

The indictment, published three months to the day after the September 11 attacks, alleges Moussaoui conspired to commit acts of terrorism and aircraft piracy, conspired to use weapons of mass destruction and conspired to murder and destroy property.

Also charged in the indictment are other individuals not yet in US custody, including Osama bin Laden.

Moussaoui, who is also known as Shaqil and Abu Khalid al Sahrawi, was born in the southern French town of Narbonne on May 30, 1968. His teachers described him as extroverted, happy and surrounded by friends. He finished high school and earned a technical degree in the town of Perpignan, France.

The indictment says that in 1998, Moussaoui was at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan. Police said France’s internal security service placed him on a 1999 watch list of those possibly affiliated with militant Islamic groups.

According to the indictment, Moussaoui flew from London to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in February.

He opened a bank account in Norman, Oklahoma, with £22,000 in cash. Later, he attended the Airman Flight School in Norman, but ended his classes early.

In June, the indictment says, he bought flight deck videos for Boeing jetliners. Flight manuals for the Boeing 747 Model 400, a flight simulator and a computer disk containing information related to the aerial application of pesticides were found among his possessions.

On August 17, he was detained on immigration charges after he aroused suspicions by saying he wanted to fly planes, but was not interested in learning how to take off and land.

Ashcroft said Moussaoui, set to be arraigned on January 2 in Virginia, was an active player in the terrorist attacks. He underwent the same training as the terrorists on the hijacked planes, Ashcroft said, and pledged to kill Americans.

Moussaoui has been the subject of intense scrutiny since the attacks, which occurred a month after he was placed in custody. Federal investigators in New York have said privately that he has declined to cooperate with the investigation.

But Mrs Moussaoui said her son claimed his innocence in a letter he sent her from prison.

‘‘I believe him,’’ she said.