Zacarias Moussaoui Wants To Testify On Al-Qaeda Terror Financing

Zacarias Moussaoui wants to testify on al Qaeda terror financing

http://blogs.reuters.com/alison-fran...ror-financing/

By Alison Frankel
October 14, 2014

Zacarias Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to conspiring in al Qaeda’s Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, says he has information about how al Qaeda financed its operations and he wants to provide it to lawyers representing terrorism victims.

After a federal jury in Brooklyn found Arab Bank liable last month for financing Hamas operations during the Second Palestinian Intifada, Moussaoui sent a handwritten letter to the clerk of the court from a super-maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado, where he is serving a life sentence. (Moussaoui said he heard about the jury verdict on Fox News.) “I want to testify against financial institutions such as Arab Bank, Saudi American Bank, the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia” and several individuals, Moussaoui wrote, “for their support and financing of Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda from the time of the Eastern Africa embassy bombing, U.S.S. Cole bombing and 9/11.”

In the letter, which was docketed Friday in the Arab Bank case, Moussaoui said that plaintiffs’ lawyers representing victims of the Sept. 11 attacks have requested permission to meet with him but that prison officials have denied the request. Moussaoui also claimed that he has previously offered to testify about al Qaeda financing in letters to the judge overseeing the Sept. 11 victims’ consolidated litigation, U.S. District Judge George Daniels of Manhattan, but that he does not know if the prison has mailed them. The docket in that case does not show any communications from Moussaoui, who was once named as a defendant by Sept. 11 victims.

Moussaoui’s proposed testimony would probably not affect the Arab Bank case. For one thing, it’s not clear from his two-page letter to the court that Moussaoui really has information about al Qaeda’s financiers, although in its opinion upholding his plea and sentence, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals detailed Moussaoui’s supposed ties to bin Laden and his training in preparation for the Sept. 11 attacks. Moreover, even if Moussaoui can link specific banks to al Qaeda, that information wouldn’t be relevant to the Arab Bank case in Brooklyn, which centers on the bank’s purported support for Hamas attacks in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Gary Osen told me it was unlikely the victims in his case would try to interview Moussaoui (though he didn’t entirely rule it out). An Arab Bank spokesman declined to comment on the Moussaoui letter, pointing instead to the bank’s newly filed motion for a new trial.

Moussaoui’s evidence, if he really has any, would probably be more important in the Sept. 11 terror-finance litigation. His letter to the Arab Bank court does not specify why he is offering to testify, though he requests that Jerry Goldman of Anderson Kill be appointed as his lawyer. Goldman told me he doesn’t know why Moussaoui asked for his appointment. Even if Goldman wanted the assignment, he said, he is conflicted because he is one of the lead lawyers for victims in the Sept. 11 case. Goldman declined to say whether victims’ lawyers have tried to contact Moussaoui, although he did say that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons “makes it very difficult.” Lawyers from another of the lead plaintiffs’ firms in the Sept. 11 case, Motley Rice, didn’t respond to my email request for comment. Motley Rice is also a lead firm in the Arab Bank case.

Moussaoui is confined under “special administrative measures” (SAM) because the government deems him a national security risk. That designation means that the warden of the prison in Florence can restrict his visitation, phone and mail privileges. A spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons told me that even SAM inmates are permitted to write to federal courts but declined to comment on visitation requests. Moussaoui’s most recent lawyer, Joyce Ellen Rosendahl, also declined to comment.

I reached out to one of the lawyers who represented Moussaoui at his criminal trial, federal public defender Gerald Zerkin in Richmond, Virginia, to ask whether Moussaoui really knows anything about al Qaeda’s financing. Citing attorney-client privilege, Zerkin told me he couldn’t say. He also pointed out that the conditions of Moussaoui’s imprisonment will make it exceedingly tough for any private lawyers to talk to him. “I wouldn’t hold my breath,” Zerkin said. “But it’s possible.”

(This piece has been updated to clarify that Rosendahl no longer represents Moussaoui.)

Imprisoned terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui wants to testify in Oklahoma City federal court
He is asking to testify in Oklahoma City federal court.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/court...dd0f01f64.html

By NOLAN CLAY The Oklahoman
Posted: Thursday, November 6, 2014 12:00 am

OKLAHOMA CITY — An admitted al-Qaida terrorist who is in prison for the 9/11 attacks is asking to testify in Oklahoma City federal court about alleged plots to shoot down Air Force One and to assassinate former President Bill Clinton.

Zacarias Moussaoui took flight lessons at a Norman flight school in 2001 as part of his plan to pilot a plane into a building, and he also is claiming that a Saudi prince assisted him in Norman in “my Islamic Terrorist activities” there in 2001.

“I am ready to testify about all the above and more in your court in an Open Hearing that I request,” he wrote by hand in a four-page pleading.

Moussaoui, 46, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of release at the federal Supermax penitentiary in Florence, Colorado. The French citizen often has been referred to in media accounts as “the 20th hijacker.”

9/11 Plaintiffs Ask For Time To Assess Moussaoui Claims Of Saudi Involvement

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfi...1-involvement/

Daniel Fisher
11/6/2014

Lawyers representing victims of the 9/11 attacks asked a New York court to delay a deadline in their litigation so they can assess claims by Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called “20th hijacker,” that a member of the Saudi royal family helped him in his failed effort to participate in the terror plot.

Moussaoui, in a handwritten letter to U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels in New York, said “I want to meet you and testify” about the involvement of the Saudi Bin Laden Group and other Saudi figures including members of the ruling al Saud family and the late Khalid bin Mahfouz, who founded the Bank of Credit and Commerce International and was widely accused of funding al Qaeda.

Jerry Goldman, an attorney for 9/11 victims, said he and other members of the plaintiffs’ team traveled two weeks ago to ADX Florence, the “Supermax” prison in Colorado where Moussaoui is serving life without parole. Goldman said the Justice Dept. is reviewing the transcript of their meeting and until the government is done, he can’t discuss what was said — for obvious reasons. Radical lawyer Lynne Stewart was sentenced to 10 years in prison for relaying conversations with her client, the blind cleric Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, to compatriots overseas without government clearance.

The case against the Saudi government, by victims and insurance companies that paid claims in the attack, was revived after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s dismissal. The plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in September, which the Saudis again asked to dismiss, and a plaintiff response is due next week.

“We asked the court for an extension because the DOJ wants to review certain documents,” Goldman said, including the transcript of the Moussaoui interview. “We believe the material is relevant to the proceedings of the court.”

Moussaoui first contacted lawyers about testifying in civil lawsuits after seeing the verdict in the Arab Bank case last month on TV, according to this report by Allison Frankel at Reuters.

“I want to testify against financial institutions such as Arab Bank , Saudi American Bank, the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia” and several individuals, Moussaoui wrote in a note to the New York court in that case, “for their support and financing of Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda from the time of the Eastern Africa embassy bombing, U.S.S. Cole bombing and 9/11.”

Whether Moussaoui’s testimony will help the plaintiffs is unknown. Moussaoui was arrested before the 9/11 attacks in August 2001 on immigration charges after officials became suspicious about his attending a flight-training school in Minnesota. While he had contacts with the other 9/11 hijackers, his credibility would be challenged by his changing claims of involvement in the plot. He ultimately pleaded guilty to involvement even as 9/11 planner Khalid Sheik Mohammed claimed he wasn’t part of the team.

Lawyers for insurance companies and individual plaintiffs argue Saudi Arabia provided direct logistical and financial support to the 9/11 terrorists, 15 of whom were Saudi citizens, through charities it controlled and undercover operatives working in the U.S. To bolster the argument that this case involves U.S. plaintiffs suing over torts committed on U.S. soil, lawyers detail a series of suspicious contacts between Saudi agents and Al Qaeda including Omar Bayoumi, who allegedly held a do-nothing job with a a Saudi aviation firm called Dallah Avco and helped support 9/11 hijackers in San Diego.

Admitted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui wants to sue President Barack Obama
Admitted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui is asking Oklahoma City federal judge for an attorney so he can sue President Barack Obama for obstruction of justice. He claimed the Obama administration is trying to prevent him from testifying for 9/11 victims who are suing Saudi Arabia.

http://newsok.com/admitted-terrorist...rticle/5372610

by Nolan Clay Published: December 4, 2014

Admitted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui is asking an Oklahoma City federal judge to appoint him an attorney so he can sue President Barack Obama for obstruction of justice.

Moussaoui claims the Obama administration is trying to prevent him from testifying on behalf of 9/11 victims in a 2003 civil case against Saudi Arabia.

“This court surely could understand the enormous financial, geo-strategical interest by the Obama administration agents to prevent me to testify in court,” he wrote Nov. 23.

He wrote the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks could be compensated hundreds of billions of dollars thanks to his testimony against the real mastermind of the attacks.

Moussaoui, 46, is in prison in Colorado for life with no possibility of release for conspiring with the 9/11 hijackers and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to attack America.

Moussaoui in October mailed to Oklahoma City federal court a handwritten complaint against the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In the complaint, filed Nov. 3, he asked U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange to let him testify in her court about assistance he claims he got from a Saudi prince in 2001 in his “Islamic terrorist activities.” He claims he met with the prince on the campus of the University of Oklahoma.

He also asked to testify about a plot to shoot down Air Force One and assassinate former President Bill Clinton.

He mailed similar requests to federal judges in New York and Texas.

Moussaoui’s request for an attorney to sue Obama was filed Tuesday in Oklahoma City federal court. He also is requesting an attorney for other reasons.

Case against Saudi Arabia
Attorneys for 9/11 victims consider Moussaoui a crucial witness in their longstanding case against Saudi Arabia. He gave a deposition to attorneys in the case over two days in October. Afterward, one attorney told the judge overseeing the case “Moussaoui’s sworn testimony is not only relevant, but critical.” Moussaoui wrote that one attorney described his testimony as explosive.

The attorneys suing Saudi Arabia represent people who suffered personal injuries on Sept. 11, 2001, families of those who died in the attacks, and insurers and property owners who had financial losses.

The attorneys allege Saudi Arabia — through charities — provided the financial and material assistance that allowed al-Qaida to develop into a sophisticated global terrorist organization. The attorneys allege the 9/11 attacks were a “direct, intended and foreseeable” product of that support.

Attorneys for Saudi Arabia have said the kingdom “had no role in the attacks.” The kingdom’s attorneys are asking a federal judge in New York City to dismiss the case.

Moussaoui, a French citizen, took flight lessons at the Airman Flight School in Norman after arriving in Oklahoma in February 2001. He later said he took the lessons so he could fly a plane into the White House.

He was arrested in Minnesota in August 2001 after raising suspicions at a flight school there. He was still in custody Sept. 11, 2001, when 19 suicidal al-Qaida hijackers took control of four planes.

Moussaoui has made bizarre comments at times since his arrest. A defense psychologist concluded he was a paranoid schizophrenic. He also has given conflicting accounts of his role in the 9/11 plot.

When he pleaded guilty in 2005 to involvement in the al-Qaida conspiracy, he said he was to have piloted a plane into the White House at a later date. At his 2006 trial over his punishment, he testified he was to have piloted a fifth plane on 9/11. After the trial, he went back to his original account.