Related: US attorney general vows to seek death penalty against Moussaoui

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Friday the government will seek the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty earlier in the day to conspiracy in relation with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (Photo: Xinhua)

    WASHINGTON, April 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in relation to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, pleaded guilty at a court hearing on Friday.

    US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea, making Moussaoui the only person convicted in the United States for the attacks.

    Moussaoui, a French citizen, pleaded guilty at a federal court based in Alexandria, Virginia, to six conspiracy charges over the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people. Four of the charges carry the capital punishment, and he could face the death penalty.

    Earlier in the day, Moussaoui's lawyers argued that he was incompetent to plead guilty to crimes that carry a possible death sentence.

    Moussaoui was arrested in August 2001 on immigration charges, and was indicted in December 2001.

    His trial has been delayed three times. For most of the past two years, the case has been tied up in the appellate courts in a dispute over Moussaoui's access to key al Qaeda witnesses.

    Moussaoui tried to plead guilty in 2002, claiming he had detailed knowledge of the Sept. 11 plot, but reneged a week later saying that although he was an al Qaeda member, he had no advance knowledge of the hijackings. His mental state has been an issue inthe case ever since. Enditem