Supreme Court blocks al-Qa'ida witnesses

The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in connection with the 11 September 2001 attacks, to be allowed to have three captured al-Qa'ida suspects testify in his defence.

The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in connection with the 11 September 2001 attacks, to be allowed to have three captured al-Qa'ida suspects testify in his defence.

The court upheld a lower court ruling that enables the government to pursue the death penalty while restricting Mr Moussaoui's access to the captives. He will be allowed to use only government-prepared summaries of evidence. Mr Moussaoui has denied any involvement in the planning of the attacks and asserts that al-Qa'ida suspects, such as Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Sheik Mohammed could testify that he did not have a role in the attacks, although he took part in a subsequent operation.