- December 12 

No Death Penalty for Terror Suspect -France

Death Penalty for Terrorists Debated 

PARIS - France demanded on Wednesday the United States spare a French citizen charged with plotting the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington from a possible death sentence.

 Highlighting possible tensions between Washington and its partners in its war against terrorism, Justice Minister Marylise Lebranchu said Paris could not accept the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent.

 ``Of course, no person benefiting from French consular protection should be executed,'' she told RMC radio.

 France, like other European Union (news - web sites) countries, no longer has the death penalty, having scrapped it in 1981. A Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed France would take steps to ensure he was not executed if found guilty by a U.S. federal court.

 ``Yes, that stems from our general position on the death penalty,'' he told a regular news briefing.

 Moussaoui, 33, took flying lessons in the United States and officials there believe he may have been preparing to join one of four hijacking teams.

 After attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon (news - web sites), which killed almost 3,300 people, Moussaoui was arrested as a material witness and sent to New York for questioning, where he has been held in custody.

 An indictment released on Tuesday charges Moussaoui with conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, to commit aircraft piracy, to destroy aircraft, to use weapons of mass destruction, to murder U.S. employees and to destroy property.

 He will be tried in a federal court and not in a military tribunal that has been proposed by President Bush (news - web sites) for foreigners suspected of involvement in the attacks.

 U.N. Security Council member France has voiced opposition to such tribunals, one of several differences between it and Washington on how to proceed in the crackdown against terror.

French officials have said they could not support any widening of military action beyond Afghanistan (news - web sites), host to bin Laden's al Qaeda network, without clear evidence of terrorist activity and without a U.N. mandate.

Moussaoui's mother was quoted on Wednesday saying her son wrote to her several weeks ago insisting his innocence and fearing he would not receive a fair trial.

``Zavarias warned me in his letter that they were going to fabricate proofs, produce witnesses against him,'' his mother Aicha told Le Parisien daily of a letter sent some weeks ago.

``In that case, what can you do to prove the contrary? Because my son says he too has evidence (of his innocence)...I hope he will have the chance to defend himself,'' she said.

December 13, 2001

LEGAL PROCEDURE

Paris Fights Death Penalty

By SUZANNE DALEY

Investigation: U.S. Seems Intent on Focusing on Al Qaeda in First Sept. 11 Trial (December 13, 2001)

Thomas Friedman on Terrorism presents six of Mr. Friedman's Op-Ed columns on the threat of terrorism facing the U.S. prior to the attacks of Sept. 11. Read now for just $4.95.   PARIS, Dec. 12 � The French government said today that it would oppose the death penalty in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen indicted on Tuesday by the United States on charges of conspiracy in the Sept. 11 attacks. 

The minister of justice, Marylise Lebranchu, said the government "respected the investigation" into Mr. Moussaoui's possible role in the attacks, which she said had turned up substantial evidence.But she said on RMC-Info radio: "We do not accept the death penalty. There has to be a discussion with the United States."American authorities say Mr. Moussaoui, a 33-year-old of Moroccan descent, intended to be among the hijackers who commandeered the four planes on Sept. 11. 

He was charged with six felonies, including four that carry the death penalty.But France, like other European countries, has abolished the death penalty and refuses to extradite prisoners to countries when it could be imposed. Earlier this year, for instance, the United States had to pledge not to pursue the death penalty before French authorities agreed to send James Charles Kopp back to New York to face charges in connection with the 1998 killing of an upstate New York doctor who performed abortions.Many of Washington's European partners in the war on terrorism fear that handing over suspects would be tantamount to signing their death warrants. 

Aware of such concerns, Attorney General John Ashcroft began a four-nation tour of Europe today to bolster cooperation and reassure Washington's allies. In London, Mr. Ashcroft seemed to indicate that suspects would not inevitably face the death penalty, saying each case would be looked at separately. "Individuals and nations with which we have dealt regarding extraditions have dealt on a case-by-case basis and I think that is the best way to go forward," he said at a news conference. In France, the Foreign Ministry confirmed that it would object to the death sentence in the Moussaoui case as it does in all cases concerning French citizens. But Fran�ois Rivasseau, a spokesman for the ministry, also said Mr. Moussaoui had so far refused his rights to consular protection, which would, for instance, guarantee him diplomatic visits."To our knowledge Mr. Moussaoui, who was informed at the time of this arrest by the U.S. authorities of his right to normal consular protection, does not wish to use that benefit," Mr. Rivasseau said.Mr. Moussaoui was arrested on Aug. 16 on immigration violations after officials at a Minnesota flight school, where he spent some days using a jet flight simulator, alerted authorities to what they regarded as suspicious behavior. Since shortly after the attacks, he has been held in New York as a material witness, but he will soon be transferred to Virginia, officials said.