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Shoe-bomber 'will plead guilty'
03/10/2002 08:58 - (SA)
Boston - Richard Reid, the man accused of trying to blow up a
trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes, plans to plead guilty to attempted murder and all other charges against him, says his lawyer.
Owen Walker said Reid wanted to avoid the publicity of
a trial and the negative impact it would have on his family.
Reid faces up to life in prison if convicted on the most-serious Walker said Reid "has no disagreement with the
facts" listed in the charges.
In his court filing, Reid said he would admit to all eight
counts against him, but asked the court to remove some of the terminology from two of the charges alleging that he received training from al-Qaeda.
Reid
earlier lost a bid to remove the same terminology from the charges against him.
The motion does not say a guilty plea is contingent upon the
al-Qaeda references being removed. Walker declined comment on the
issue.
In Washington, attorney-general John Ashcroft said Reid had acted on
his own and had no plea agreement with the government. Federal
prosecutors also filed a pleading that opposed removal of any
terminology from the indictment.
Overpowered by crew, passengers
Ashcroft said: "The justice department stands by each and every allegation in
the indictment. We are prepared to substantiate all of the
charges." Trial is set for November 4.
Reid, a 28-year-old British citizen, is accused of trying to
kill the 197 passengers and crew aboard American Airlines
flight 63 from Paris to Miami on December 22.
He was overpowered by
flight attendants and passengers, and the flight was diverted to
Boston.
Authorities said each shoe contained a plastic explosive often
used by terrorists. They said the homemade bombs could easily have ripped a hole in the aircraft if Reid had successfully ignited them.
The indictment said Reid "received training from al-Qaeda in
Afghanistan", but it provided no other details about Reid's alleged ties to the network.
The FBI has said it believes Reid had help from "an al-Qaeda bomb maker", and have cited unidentified human hair
and a palm print found on the explosives. Reid insisted to FBI
investigators that he acted alone.
Prosecutors said that in statements made after his arrest, Reid said he
acted because of the US military campaign in Afghanistan and that he hoped his planned attack would cause Americans to stop
travelling, leading to a downturn in the economy.
Angered at restrictions on Muslims
Reid also told the FBI he was driven by anger at the treatment of Muslims in Israel, according to transcripts of the
interrogations.
He said he travelled in 2001 to Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, and was angered to see "Jews with guns" inside.
"His trip to Jerusalem further emboldened him to act against the West when he witnessed the many checkpoints and travel restrictions on Muslims," said one transcript.
Asked why he didn't choose to attack Israel, Reid told
investigators: "America is the problem; without America, there would be no Israel."
He also said he was worried Palestinian groups would
be too paranoid to trust him.
The FBI said it searched Reid's e-mail accounts and found one message in which he described a duty to "remove the oppressive American forces from the Muslim land".
"What I am doing is part of the ongoing war between Islam and
disbelief," he wrote to his mother in the message two days before
his arrest.
Reid converted to Islam while in prison for petty crimes. He
later worshipped at the same London mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui,
who has been charged with conspiracy in the September 11 attacks. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA
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