The sole individual to have been convicted of the Sept.11, 2001 terrorist attack has requested to be relocated from federal prison in Colorado to France. He has expressed concern that he will be executed if the Republican nominee and former President Donald J. Trump is elected president in November.
Nineteen terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda took control of four commercial aircraft on September 11, 2001, killing over four thousand people. Planes were deliberately crashed into the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, and a field in Pennsylvania following a passenger and flight crew revolt.
In a letter written in poor English that is currently on file in the court proceedings, Zacarias Moussaoui (56) expressed concern that he may be perceived as a threat to national security under Trump’s Administration.
Moussaoui, a French citizen imprisoned for immigration violations a month before 9/11, received six life sentences. Lawyer and lecturer informed him US law empowers the President to execute any federal prisoner considered a danger to national security.
Cornell Law School Professor William Jacobson, who writes the Legal Insurrection blog, dismissed Moussaoui’s concerns about a Trump-ordered execution. Jacobson noted that convicts often submit handwritten messages to the court since they are seldom allowed the use of computers. He further stressed that a President can’t have a prisoner executed by Executive Order.
In the letter he wrote, Moussaoui expressed his desire to petition the US government and this court for the return to France to serve out his sentence rather than enduring his remaining days in the Supermax prison.
The Republican Trump (2017 to 2021) is vying for the presidency in November to replace Democrat Joe Biden, who recently ended his run for reelection.
Prior to the possible inauguration of former President Trump, the convicted terrorist requested to be transported to France to spend the remainder of his life sentence.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia, who presided over Moussaoui’s trial, has not entered a response.