Terrorism: Federal Crimes Implicated

Publication Date: July 2004

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Justice

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Abstract:

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, implicated a number of federal criminal laws. Although the hijackers themselves died in the attacks, federal prosecutors have filed charges in several terrorist-related cases. Zacarias Moussaoui is being prosecuted as a co-conspirator of the hijackers. Three other men, alleged to have helped them secure false identification, have entered plea bargains. In terrorist cases not directly linked to the September 11 attacks, Richard Reid, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for trying to destroy an international flight using explosives concealed in his shoes. John Walker Lindh, the so-called American Taliban, pled guilty to lesser charges after being indicted for conspiring to murder an American overseas and for providing material support to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Two others, American Jose Padilla and Qatari Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, initially accused of criminal offenses have been declared enemy combatants and turned over to military authorities. Two nationals of Yemen have been indicted, but remain at large, for the attacks on the USS Cole and the USS The Sullivans in Aden, Yeman. Civilian and military authorities have also brought charges involving the mishandling of classified information relating to the incarceration of enemy combatants in Guantanamo, Cuba.