In this image released by the U.S. District Court, a government exhibit shows a photograph, introduced at the sentencing trail of Zacarias Moussaoui, of the flight data recorder found at the scene of Flight 93 which crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. (Xinhua/AFP)

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- A audio tape from the cockpit of United Flight 93, one of the hijacked planes on Sept. 11, 2001, depicted what had happened in the last half hour before the aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania.

    The recording was played on Wednesday at a federal court in Washington's suburban Alexandria, Virginia, before jury which was to decide whether Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged and convicted in connection with the Sept. 11 terror attacks, should die.

    The recording showed passengers struggling to thwart hijackers, before the Boeing 757 plane, which had taken off Newark, New Jersey and was bound for San Francisco, California, crashed killing all people aboard, including 33 passengers, seven crew members and four hijackers.

    At the start of the recording, a man believed to be Ziad Jarrah,the hijacker who became the plane's pilot, warned passengers that there was a bomb in the plane and asked them to remain seated, followed by words "don't move. Shut up," apparently voiced by one of the hijackers.

    This was the first time that the recording was played in public. The tape was played in 2002 for relatives of the victims aboard United Flight 93.

    Later in the recording, a passenger was heard pleading the hijackers for not hurting her, "Please, please, don't hurt me." During the last five minutes of the flight, a passenger could be heard urging others to storm the cockpit and take on the hijackers "if we don't we die."

    The defense for Moussaoui would start on Thursday. Moussaoui has pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy, and the jury was deciding whether he should be sentenced to his life in prison without parole or be executed. Enditem