US: US prosecutors will demand the death penalty for Mr Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in connection with the September 11th attacks, the Justice Department yesterday confirmed to a Virginia federal court.
The decision, however, sets the US authorities on a collision course with France as Mr Moussaoui (33), allegedly the "20th hijacker", is a French citizen.
The French embassy here yesterday confirmed that, although keen to co-operate with US inquiries into the attacks, it was exploring means of doing so which would not conflict with its constitutional prohibition on the death penalty.
That could mean assisting US prosecutors with inquiries but not the trial, or only assisting in respect of the two charges he faces out of six which are non-capital charges, a spokesman said.
"We shall continue judicial co-operation," said Justice Minister Ms Marylise Lebranchu. "However, under no circumstances shall we transmit a piece of evidence if it could be used to back up a death sentence."
Mr Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, is charged with conspiring with Osama bin Laden and others to commit the September 11th attacks. At the time he was being held by the US authorities after arousing the suspicions of a flight school. His trial is scheduled for the autumn. However, the decision to seek the death penalty on a conspiracy charge, according to legal experts, is highly unusual.
Mr Moussaoui deserves to die because he helped plot "the largest loss of life resulting from a criminal act in the history of the United States", prosecutors said in yesterday's filing with the trial judge in Alexandria, Virginia .
Attorney General Mr John Ashcroftresponded to French concerns by asking allies to continue their co-operation. "We ask our counterparts in the international community to respect our sovereignty, and we respect theirs."
