Moussaoui begins serving life in Colorado

May 13, 2006, 23:17 GMT

Washington- Convicted September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussoaui on Saturday began serving his life sentence at a maximum security federal prison in the US state of Colorado, one day after appealing his conviction.

Moussaoui, 37, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on May 4, after a jury failed to unanimously agree on the death penalty for his role in the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

But on Friday Moussaoui's lawyers filed an appeal of his life sentence at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. Moussaoui's attempt last week to withdraw his 2005 guilty plea and seek a new trial was denied by the Alexandria, Virginia federal court where he was convicted.

Moussaoui plead guilty to six counts of conspiracy in April of last year, against the advice of his court-appointed lawyers, securing himself at least life in prison without parole. A sentencing trial then began in March, in which prosecutors sought Moussaoui's execution.

In the end, only one of the 12 jurors opposed the death penalty, the Washington Post reported Friday, quoting the jury foreman.

On Saturday, Moussaoui was flown from Virginia to Florence, Colorado, to begin his life sentence, the US Marshal's Service confirmed. The maximum security federal prison already houses Richard Reid, the Briton who attempted to blow up an airliner in 2001 by hiding a bomb in his shoe, and Theodore Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber for an almost 20-year bombing spree in New York that began in 1978.

But Moussaoui is expected to spend no more than one hour outside of his cell everyday and will have little or no contact with his fellow inmates.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Moussaoui, alleging that he could have prevented the September 11 attacks if he had revealed what he knew of them when arrested three weeks before the plot was executed.

But after testifying that he knew of the two planes that hit the World Trade Center towers on that day, Moussaoui last week sought to withdraw his confession, saying it was 'a complete fabrication,' and adding that he was surprised by being spared execution.