A French citizen who was convicted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. has requested to be returned to his home country, expressing fear that he will be executed if former President Donald Trump is elected in November.
In a handwritten letter to U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia, Zacarias Moussaoui, 56, said, “there is a possibility if not a probability that if the Ex US President Donald Trump was to be reelected … [h]e will sentence me to death by presidential executive order.”
News of the request was revealed in an exclusive story last week by James Nault of LegalInsurrection.
According to the report, the site received a tip from the family member of someone who was killed on 9/11 who expressed concern about Moussaoui’s request for the transfer to France.
“[T[he reader was concerned that once there he may be released by the French,” Nault reported. The tipster also pointed out that there had been “zero press coverage” on the matter.
Exclusive: Imprisoned 9/11 Terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui Fears Execution If Trump Wins, Requests Transfer to France, via @JamesRNault https://t.co/2msWarkWyV
— William A. Jacobson (@wajacobson) July 23, 2024
Moussaoui was the only person to have been convicted in a U.S. court in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., which killed nearly 3,000 people, the Washington Times reported.
“Moussaoui was originally arrested in August 2001 after suspicions about his attempt to take flight training classes,” Fox News reported.
Should Zacarias Moussaoui receive the death penalty?
“He also allegedly received $14,000 in a wire transfer from fellow 9/11 co-conspirator Ramzi bin Alshibh, who never made it to the U.S. because his visa application was denied.”
Fox News said Moussaoui “also claimed – then recanted – that he was supposed to have hijacked a fifth plane and flown it into the White House” on 9/11.
He is now serving a life sentence at the Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado.
In response to Moussaoui’s request, a group of 12 U.S. senators, including Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Crapo of Idaho and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, fired off a letter to President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Zacarias Moussaoui – the only person to be convicted in U.S. court for his role in the devastating terrorist attacks on 9/11 – needs to be reminded that we don’t negotiate with terrorists.@POTUS & AG Garland should immediately deny his request to finish serving his sentence in… pic.twitter.com/3sUsI7l9L8
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) July 26, 2024
In the July 25 letter, the senators demanded that Biden and Garland “swiftly deny this terrorist’s international transfer request.”
“[T]housands of surviving family members of the victims should be able to expect that our government will keep Moussaoui confined in an American prison for the entirety of his life sentence without the possibility of release or transfer,” the letter said.
