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 share housework, a practice that was criticized by some of her more conservative relatives.

In the early 1990s, Moussaoui moved to London. There he received a master's degree in economics from Southbank University and fell in with radical Muslims, eventually becoming estranged from his immediate family. Nonetheless he made several visits to France and was outspoken enough about his views to attract the attention of French authorities, who put him under surveillance. Moussaoui traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan more than once, training at an Al Qaeda camp in 1998. He occasionally attended the same mosque in Brixton, England, as Richard Colvin Reid, who in December 2001 attempted to blow up an airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes.

In the fall of 2000, Moussaoui contacted Airman Flight School in Norman, Oklahoma, inquiring about taking flight lessons. Around the same time, Ramzi Binalshibh, a member of Al Qaeda living in Germany, abandoned his efforts to get an entrance visa to the United States; these facts led investigators to conclude that Moussaoui was a replacement for Binalshibh. In early September 2002, Binalshibh was arrested in Pakistan. Now in U.S. custody, he is suspected in connection with the September 11 attacks and the bombing of the USS Cole.

Moussaoui entered the United States on a student visa in February 2001. From late February to late May 2001, Moussaoui took flight lessons at Airman on small planes. He was reportedly a dreadful pilot, and after being told that he would need more lessons, he quit the school. In August, Moussaoui left Norman, moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and attended Pan Am International Flight Academy.

His behavior soon attracted attention. He paid a $6,300 fee in cash, he was extremely evasive, and he adamantly insisted that he be taught to fly a large passenger plane even though he had not mastered flying a small plane. Instructors became suspicious and contacted the FBI. Moussaoui was arrested on August 17, 2001 and held on immigration charges.

In December 2001, Moussaoui was formally charged with six charges of conspiracy related to the September 11 attacks in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. In March 2002, the U.S. government announced that it would seek the death penalty for Moussaoui. Although as a French citizen Moussaoui was eligible to be tried before a special military tribunal empowered to charge foreign terrorists, he was instead indicted in a civilian court. Moussaoui is representing himself and was granted a delay in his trial in order to prepare for it. The trial was postponed to June 30, 2003.