A federal appeals court yesterday cleared the way for Zacarias Moussaoui to be tried in a criminal court, ruling that he cannot interview key al Qaeda detainees and that he can be put to death for his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit overturned the order of a trial judge in Alexandria, who had barred the government from seeking to execute Moussaoui and from presenting any Sept. 11-related evidence at his trial. The appeals court instead ordered the lower court judge to craft a compromise that allows Moussaoui to present statements made by the detainees but does not allow him to interview them. The witness access issue — pitting Moussaoui’s constitutional right to introduce evidence on his behalf against the government’s right to wage war on terrorism — has snarled for more than a year the only U.S. criminal prosecution stemming from the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Full Story
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