08/11/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10061

MOUSSAOUI AND THE RULE OF LAW

Only one man has been charged by the United States in the September 11^th terrorist attacks. He is Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent. Moussaoui’s treatment by the federal court is a strong testimony to America’s commitment to the rule of law.

Government officials believe that Moussaoui was planning to be a hijacker on one of the flights that eventually crashed into the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and a field in Pennsylvania.

Moussaoui was arrested in August on immigration charges while attending flight school in Minnesota. He was arraigned in December on charges of conspiring to commit terrorism, murder, air piracy and mass destruction. Since then, the Federal court has tried to insure that Moussaoui is given a fair trial. That has been complicated by the defendant’s contempt for the American legal system.

The court assigned Moussaoui two experienced lawyers to defend him free of charge. He would not deal with them. Instead, he asked to be allowed to defend himself. The judge warned Moussaoui about the dangers of his arguing his own case, especially since, if found guilty, he could receive the death penalty. After undergoing a psychiatric evaluation in June, Moussaoui was granted the right to be his own counsel.

Moussaoui has deluged the court with handwritten motions expressing his personal disdain for the judge and scorn for the judicial process. Until mid-July, he insisted on his innocence. Then, in a dramatic reversal, Moussaoui stood before the court and asked to plead guilty to the charges against him. Moussaoui admitted that he is a member of the al-Qaida terrorist group and that he is loyal to Osama Bin Laden.

Because a guilty plea could insure a death sentence, the judge refused to accept the plea and urged Moussaoui to reconsider. A week later, Moussaoui again attempted to plead guilty. But when the judge carefully explained that a guilty plea would mean he admitted complicity in the hijacking attacks of September eleventh, Moussaoui changed his mind once more.

Now a full jury trial is scheduled for September. So far, the judicial treatment of Zacarias Moussaoui has been a remarkable attempt to give the admitted al-Qaida member a fair shake. In America, even for suspected or admitted terrorists, principles of justice and due process of law apply.