Shoe Bomber Reid 'not Linked With Moussaoui Plot'

The British-born shoe bomber Richard Reid was not involved in a plot with alleged September 11 hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui, the US government admitted today.

Government prosecutors in the trial of Mr Moussaoui, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the September 11 attacks, conceded that they had no evidence linking Reid to the bombings.

Mr Moussaoui's defence team had requested that the statement from prosecutors be presented to jurors deciding on whether to sentence him to execution or life imprisonment.

Mr Moussaoui shocked the trial last month when he said that Reid, who attempted to attack a Paris-Miami flight in December 2001 using plastic explosives concealed in his shoe, had been part of the September 11 conspiracy.

Both men attended the Brixton mosque in south London before Mr Moussaoui was expelled for his extreme views during the 1990s. However, there has long been a question mark over whether they ever met.

Many of Mr Moussaoui's statements during his trial have been contradictory and apparently baseless, and he has been accused of using the proceedings to grandstand his own views.

He has pleaded guilty to all charges against him, but at the same time denied that he was involved in planning the September 11 attacks.

Former acquaintances of French-born Mr Moussaoui said that he wanted to be sentenced to death so that he would be seen as a martyr.

"If he receives the death penalty, he believes in the eyes of the Muslim community he will be seen as a martyr," said Abdul Haq Baker, chairman of the Brixton mosque.

"If that is discredited in any way by questions of his sanity, then he will just be locked up in prison for a long time, and that will not give him any credibility at all," he said.