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American Morning

Emergency Hearing On Moussaoui's Conditions

Aired April 22, 2002 - 09:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: "Up Front" this morning, an emergency hearing. Zacarias Moussaoui, who some have called the 20th hijacker. Moussaoui arrived at a Federal courthouse in Virginia this morning to attend a hearing on the conditions of his detection. His lawyers are charging the government with being overly restrictive.

CNN's Kelli Arena joins us now from outside the courthouse in Alexandria with the very latest. Good morning, Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, Zacarias Moussaoui's lawyers have argued for several concessions, among them a larger prison cell, some computer access and greater access to his legal counsel. CNN has learned that the two sides have reached a tentative agreement on some of those issues. We do know as a result of government motion filed last week that the government is already willing to allow him some limited computer access to look at some documents as part of the discovery process, that's because many of those documents are on CD-ROM and we also know that the government is also willing to dim one of the lights in his jail cell. The lawyer - his lawyers had complained that he was under constant surveillance, that the light glaring. That he couldn't sleep. But differences do remain and that is primarily because the government says Moussaoui is still dangerous, even behind bars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM CONNOLLY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: The government reasonably fears that Mr. Moussaoui poses a substantial risk today and in the future. They think that he is a trusted member of a criminal organization that's responsible for the largest mass murder in the history of the United States. That he's a trusted member because he would not have been given the assignment he was given unless the Al- Qaeda leadership trusted him. That he likely has a communication plan that in the event of apprehension or being placed in custody that he should communicate with brothers in the Jihad. And that they want to prevent him from making any communication to other members of the Al- Qaeda leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: U.S. investigators do believe that Moussaoui intended to be the 20th hijacker and he does face the death penalty - Paula.

ZAHN: So Kelly, what are the chances of any deal being worked out here to get him to cooperate?

ARENA: Very slim, Paula. This man, according to investigators, has said nothing since he was taken into custody. He has apparently followed the instructions in Al-Qaeda's manual for when you are captured not to cooperate at all and if you do cooperate to just cooperate with using diversionary tactics. So he has said nothing that would be helpful for his cause and it does look like this trial is going forward.

ZAHN: All right. Kelli Arena thanks so much for that report.

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