Are the rules being bent again?

MOUSSAOUI, Zacarias, 1968-; BRINKEMA, Leonie

The article focuses on a federal judge who ruled that prosecutors may not seek the death penalty against Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person in the United States to have been charged so far in connection with the September 11th terror attacks. The ruling, by a district judge, Leonie Brinkema, came after the federal government refused to allow Mr Moussaoui to question al-Qaeda suspects who, he claims, could prove his innocence. Mr Moussaoui was charged on six counts of conspiracy--four of them punishable by death--to commit acts of terrorism, aircraft piracy, use of weapons of mass destruction, destruction of aircraft, murder of government employees and destruction of government property. Although he admitted being a member of al-Qaeda, Mr Moussaoui claimed he knew nothing about the attacks until after they had occurred. The government is already under attack for its treatment of some 660 al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, an American naval base in Cuba, where they are supposed to be awaiting trial before special military courts.