Moussaoui Attacks Own Lawyers

Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man to be prosecuted in connection with the September 11 2001 attacks, took the witness stand at his trial today and immediately launched into a vehement criticism of his lawyers.

"You have put your vested interest in keeping this case in your hands above my interest to save my life," Moussaoui said when asked by the lawyer Gerald Zerkin if the defence team was conspiring to kill him, complaining also of "criminal non-assistance".

Moussaoui was testifying - against the wishes of his court-appointed lawyers - on the opening day of defence arguments in the second stage of his trial in Alexandria, Virginia, where the jury must decide whether the self-professed al-Qaida conspirator should be executed or jailed for life.

It is a daunting task for the defence team, made all the more difficult by their belief that despite his outburst, the 37-year-old Moroccan-born French national actively wants to be executed so as to become a martyr.

The defence case came a day after prosecutors wrapped up their arguments for Moussaoui's execution by playing a tape from the cockpit voice recorder of United Airlines flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11 after passengers apparently tried to retake the plane from hijackers.

The 30-minute tape, never previously played publicly, includes the noise of crew members pleading for their lives and the hijackers apparently discussing whether to deliberately crash the plane as they come under attack.

The first defence witness, James Aiken, an expert on prisons, testified that Moussaoui would always need the highest level of supervision in jail, meaning he would be isolated not only from the outside world but also from other prisoners.

"I don't care how good he is ... I don't care how compliant he is. He will be in the security envelope as long as he lives," Aiken told the court.

The defence team is also expected to call as a witness Richard Reid, the failed British shoe bomber jailed for life by a US court in 2003 for trying to blow up a Paris-Miami flight carrying 197 people.

Moussaoui pleaded guilty last year to plotting terrorist attacks. The jury has already declared him eligible for the death penalty by determining that his actions caused at least one death on September 11.

However, Moussaoui's lawyers argue he is merely "an al-Qaida hanger-on" who was not fully trusted and had only a limited role in the September 11 attack. They also say that he lied during his court testimony to ensure he would be executed.

The defence is expected to reveal a history of schizophrenia in Moussaoui's family, with a defence expert having already said that Moussaoui probably suffers from schizophrenia. He has refused to cooperate with doctors' evaluations.

As he was being led out of the courtroom today during a break for closed legal argument, the defendant shouted: "Victory for Moussaoui! God curse you all!"

Earlier in his trial, Moussaoui, who studied for a time in London, testified that he and Reid were to have piloted a fifth plane into the White House on September 11, evidence that contradicted his earlier claim to have been training for a separate attack on another day.

The jury has heard testimony about their loss from dozens of family members of people who died on September 11. Other relatives are expected to testify for the defence, although trial rules prohibit them from offering a direct opinion on Moussaoui's sentence.