Moussaoui, Zacarias (1968–)

aka Shaqil, Abu Kahlid al Sahrawi

The first person to be indicted in the United States on charges stemming from the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., Zacarias Moussaoui was in prison in Minnesota when the attacks occurred. Moussaoui, a radical Muslim with ties to Al Qaeda, is believed to have been a last-minute recruit who was supposed to fill in for another would-be hijacker. He was jailed about a month before the attacks for over-staying his visa.

Moussaoui was born in 1968 in St. Jean de Luz, France, the son of a Moroccan couple who married when Moussaoui's mother was 14 years old. His parents divorced when he was young, and Moussaoui's mother worked to support her four children, eventually buying a home in Narbonne. Moussaoui's mother raised her sons and daughters to ...