M-J
03-06-2006, 07:42 PM
Dubbed the "20th hijacker", he was in jail during the attacks which killed about 3,000 people but has pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy.
Jurors will decide if he should be executed for not giving information which may have foiled the plot.
The defence is set to argue he knew less than the authorities themselves.
I need to look at this man's eyes, I need to look at him, I need to examine his body language and maybe that will give me some kind of understanding about how a human being can be so hateful
Maureen Sentoro
Victim's mother
If he is spared the death sentence, Moussaoui will spend the rest of his life in prison.
The trial could last up to three months and, in an unprecedented step, hundreds of relatives of those killed in the attacks will watch it live by video link from special courtrooms around the country.
The attacks on 11 September 2001 saw teams of hijackers crash two civilian airliners into the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon, while a fourth plane came down in a field in Pennsylvania as passengers apparently fought back.
Maureen Sentoro, whose firefighter son died in the twin towers, told the BBC: "I need to look at this man's eyes, I need to look at him, I need to examine his body language and maybe that will give me some kind of understanding about how a human being can be so hateful."
Jury selection
Roads have been closed and police marksmen deployed around the courthouse, a few kilometres from the Pentagon.
Moussaoui declared "I am al-Qaeda" at a hearing in February
The final jury was chosen on Monday from a pool of more than 80 who attended the courthouse.
Judge Leonie Brinkema seated the 18, who include six alternate jurors, after a 90-minute selection process and the trial's opening statements and testimony from the first witness were expected to be heard later in the day.
Moussaoui, a 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan origin, had been taking flying lessons in Oklahoma but his instructor became suspicious because of Mr Moussaoui's desire to fly large jets when he had little training.
He was reported to the authorities and arrested on immigration charges a month before the attacks.
He initially told federal agents he was training as a pilot for personal enjoyment.
US government prosecutors will argue that if he had not lied to investigators the plot might have been uncovered - and he deserves the death penalty for this.
'Provocative attitude'
The defence team is expected to argue that even if he had told all he knew, government agents would not have acted properly on the information.
Moussaoui's mother, Aicha el-Wafi, said after arriving for the trial that she feared her son was being made a "scapegoat" for 9/11.
She told French radio that since his arrest her son had "sometimes adopted a provocative attitude which obviously runs counter to the interests of his defence".
Washington legal analyst Jonathan Shapiro told the BBC there had never been a case like this in American history.
"There have never been so many victims, there has never been such an atrocity, there has never been so much emotion surrounding a trial," he added.
Jurors will decide if he should be executed for not giving information which may have foiled the plot.
The defence is set to argue he knew less than the authorities themselves.
I need to look at this man's eyes, I need to look at him, I need to examine his body language and maybe that will give me some kind of understanding about how a human being can be so hateful
Maureen Sentoro
Victim's mother
If he is spared the death sentence, Moussaoui will spend the rest of his life in prison.
The trial could last up to three months and, in an unprecedented step, hundreds of relatives of those killed in the attacks will watch it live by video link from special courtrooms around the country.
The attacks on 11 September 2001 saw teams of hijackers crash two civilian airliners into the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon, while a fourth plane came down in a field in Pennsylvania as passengers apparently fought back.
Maureen Sentoro, whose firefighter son died in the twin towers, told the BBC: "I need to look at this man's eyes, I need to look at him, I need to examine his body language and maybe that will give me some kind of understanding about how a human being can be so hateful."
Jury selection
Roads have been closed and police marksmen deployed around the courthouse, a few kilometres from the Pentagon.
Moussaoui declared "I am al-Qaeda" at a hearing in February
The final jury was chosen on Monday from a pool of more than 80 who attended the courthouse.
Judge Leonie Brinkema seated the 18, who include six alternate jurors, after a 90-minute selection process and the trial's opening statements and testimony from the first witness were expected to be heard later in the day.
Moussaoui, a 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan origin, had been taking flying lessons in Oklahoma but his instructor became suspicious because of Mr Moussaoui's desire to fly large jets when he had little training.
He was reported to the authorities and arrested on immigration charges a month before the attacks.
He initially told federal agents he was training as a pilot for personal enjoyment.
US government prosecutors will argue that if he had not lied to investigators the plot might have been uncovered - and he deserves the death penalty for this.
'Provocative attitude'
The defence team is expected to argue that even if he had told all he knew, government agents would not have acted properly on the information.
Moussaoui's mother, Aicha el-Wafi, said after arriving for the trial that she feared her son was being made a "scapegoat" for 9/11.
She told French radio that since his arrest her son had "sometimes adopted a provocative attitude which obviously runs counter to the interests of his defence".
Washington legal analyst Jonathan Shapiro told the BBC there had never been a case like this in American history.
"There have never been so many victims, there has never been such an atrocity, there has never been so much emotion surrounding a trial," he added.