The Year in Review—January

The Nation | Top news stories for January, 2002 | Bob Jones

Prosecution takes off, but stalls

Jan. 1 may have marked a new year, but Sept. 11 was still the date on everyone's mind. As 2002 dawned, the federal government wasted no time in opening its trial against Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker in the infamous attacks. The French citizen of Moroccan descent was jailed in August 2001 after paying $35,000 in cash for flying lessons in Minneapolis. In January he was charged with six counts of conspiracy, including four counts that carried a penalty of death.

Although investigators worked throughout the year to establish more than circumstantial ties between Mr. Moussaoui and al-Qaeda, German defense lawyers refused to turn over key documents, despite a high-level agreement struck in Berlin, and that stalled the government case in late November. (The German constitution forbids submitting evidence to foreign courts if that evidence could result in an execution.) With the issue still unresolved at year's end, the case was expected to last well into 2003.