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Government Seeks Moussaoui Case Dismissal, but Only to
Expedite Appeal Thursday, September 25, 2003 ALEXANDRIA,
Va. — Prosecutors have agreed with Zacarias Moussaoui (search)'s lawyers that all charges against the terrorism
defendant should be dismissed but only to hasten an appeal that challenges his
right to question fellow Al Qaeda
(search) prisoners. In a
written motion made public Thursday, the government also asked U.S. District
Judge Leonie Brinkema (search) to issue a stay, an order that would keep the
charges in place during the appeal. Prosecutors
want an appellate court to overrule two of Brinkema's orders that gave
Moussaoui the right to question three captives who, he says, could testify he
was not a conspirator in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A panel
of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. has heard oral
arguments on one of the orders allowing Moussaoui to question enemy combatants
but said it would rule only after Brinkema punished the government for defying
the court. "In
light of the rulings this court has already made ... the government believes
that, at this juncture, dismissal of the indictment ... is the surest route for
ensuring that the questions at issue here can promptly be presented to the 4th
Circuit," the government said. Testimony
by the witnesses would disclose classified information and damage national security,
the government contended. Brinkema
could impose a punishment next week, after a Monday deadline expires for
Moussaoui to submit his recommended sanctions against the government. While
dismissal is the most severe possible sanction, the judge could take lesser
action, including barring the government from seeking the death penalty. Prosecutors
have opposed any direct access between the prisoners and Moussaoui, who has
acknowledged his loyalty to Usama bin
Laden (search) and is the only U.S. defendant charged as a
conspirator with the Sept. 11 hijackers. The
government has argued that national security would be gravely harmed if any
details were revealed about the sensitive interrogations or statements made by
the prisoners, who are held in undisclosed locations outside the United States. However,
federal law says that when a defendant is prevented by court order from
disclosing classified information -- in this case the Al Qaeda testimony -- the
judge is obligated to dismiss the case unless the court determines the
interests of justice would be served by another solution. Moussaoui's
defense team, representing his interests while he serves as his own lawyer,
said in a motion released Wednesday the case should be dismissed. Two of
the prisoners were among bin Laden's top operatives, Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (search) and a key planner of the attacks, Ramzi Binalshibh (search). The third is Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, a suspected
paymaster for Al Qaeda. In a
statement, the Justice Department said, "We believe the Constitution does
not require, and national security will not permit, the government to allow
Moussaoui, an avowed terrorist, to have direct access to his terrorist
confederates who have been detained abroad as enemy combatants in the midst of
a war." The
government said in the motion the issue before the court is whether the
constitutional right to access to favorable witnesses applies to an enemy combatant
"seized and held abroad during armed hostilities." "As
the government has explained, the Constitution provides an accused terrorist
with no such right to ... questioning of his confederates detained by the
military overseas." Prosecutors
also said there were other ways to introduce witness statements beyond direct
testimony but added that that issue could be decided later. Charles Mims |
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