Moussaoui’s Mother’s Lawyer: “The Fight is Only Beginning”
Charles Johnson
Wed May 3, 2006 at 9:26 pm PDT • Views: 188
The lawyer for Zacarias Moussaoui’s mother says, “The fight isn’t over — far from it.”
The lawyer for Zacarias Moussaoui’s mother expressed delight Wednesday that the Frenchman was spared the death penalty, and vowed to lead a legal battle to bring the al-Qaida conspirator home.
A federal jury in Alexandria, Va., on Wednesday decided Moussaoui should spend life in prison for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack, rejecting the government’s appeal for death. Moussaoui, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent, is the only person charged in the United States in connection with the four suicide jetliner hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people.
“We will pursue unrelentingly a request to French authorities that they demand a return of Zacarias Moussaoui to France,” said Patrick Baudouin, the lawyer for Moussaoui’s mother, Aicha El Wafi. “So the fight isn’t over — far from it — it is only beginning.”
El Wafi, who recently returned home to France from the United States, did not plan to speak publicly about the verdict until a news conference Thursday, Baudouin said. “I am delighted that the American jury did not hand down the death penalty despite the pressure of public opinion, the aggression of prosecutors and the legitimate emotion of the victims,” Baudouin told The Associated Press.
While a death penalty “would have only added barbarity upon barbarity,” Baudouin said that the life sentence was also “extremely severe and disproportionate.”
“I can’t be happy with the sentence handed down — life in prison is extremely severe and disproportionate to the acts that can really be attributed to Zacarias Moussaoui,” he said.
Frank says: