Moussaoui appeal rejected

The US Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal by accused September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, who argued he could not get a fair trial without access to al Qaeda captives who could help his defence.

The justices let stand a federal appeals court ruling that allowed US prosecutors to seek the death penalty and said Moussaoui's lawyers could not directly question the al Qaeda captives, who could provide testimony favorable to his defence.

Instead of direct access, the appeals court ruled the defence must rely on US government-prepared summaries of the interrogation statements from the al Qaeda captives.

Without comment or any recorded dissent, the Supreme Court refused to consider Moussaoui's constitutional challenge to the ruling. The action cleared the way for the case to proceed before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia.

Moussaoui is the only person charged in the United States in connection with the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. No trial date has been set.

A French citizen of Moroccan descent, Moussaoui was arrested on immigration charges before the attacks. He has said he was not involved in the hijackings, but is an admitted al Qaeda member who has pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

The defence has wanted to question Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks; Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, viewed as one of the financiers of the hijackings; and Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, who is suspected of coordinating them.

Defence attorneys said testimony from the al Qaeda captives could help prove Moussaoui was not involved in the attacks. The captives have been held as "enemy combatants" and have been interrogated overseas by the United States.

In the Supreme Court appeal, Moussaoui's attorneys said he could not get a fair trial if faced with "a dangerous new loophole" to his constitutional right to call witnesses.

"In place of the constitutional protections that have been erected to give a defendant a fair trial, Moussaoui is told to just trust... summaries authored by the government of what it says these witnesses would say," the attorneys said.

"Immediate review also would permit this court to definitively resolve whether our nation will adhere to the most basic of our constitutional principles even in a criminal case arising from the most deadly attack ever against our country," they said.

The US Justice Department opposed the appeal and said the case should be allowed to go to trial.

Department attorneys said Supreme Court review now of Moussaoui's claims would be "premature" and "unwarranted," and could be raised later if he is convicted and gets the death penalty.

They said the charges against him have been pending for more than three years, and that the government, the public and the victims' families all have an interest "in the expeditious conduct of the criminal trial."