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Zacarias Moussaoui is seen in an undated photo. (Xinhua/AFP)
| WASHINGTON, May 8 (Xinhua) --
Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person tried and convicted in the United States in
connection with Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, has filed a motion to withdraw
his guilty plea.
The motion was filed with a federal District Court
last Friday but released Monday.
In the motion, Moussaoui, 37, said he lied when he
testified last year that he was involved in the plot even though he knew that
was a "complete fabrication."
He said he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea because
he now believed he could get a fair trial.
A federal court jury sentenced him to life in jail
last week, and U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema last Thursday gave him six
life sentences, to be served in the federal supermax prison at Florence,
Colorado.
Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers said they filed
the motion even though they were aware of a federal rule that prohibits a
defendant from withdrawing a guilty plea a sentence is imposed.
Moussaoui, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent, was
arrested in August 2001, about one month before the attacks that killed nearly
3,000 people in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.
He pleaded guilty last April to six counts of
conspiracy, and in March 27 this year, he testified that he and another
conspirator were supposed to attack the White House on Sept. 11, 2001, with a
fifth hijacked plane. Enditem |