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Zacarias Moussaoui is born in Saint Jean-de-Luz, France.
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Moussaoui moves to London to improve his English-speaking skills. While there, he discovers Islamic extremism.
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French authorities become suspicious that Moussaoui has helped fund Algerian terrorists.
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Bin Laden changes his mind and tells Sheikh Mohammed that the plan to hijack planes and fly them into U. S. buildings "now has Al Qaeda's full support." Bin Laden suggests the Pentagon, Capitol building, and White House as buildings he would like to see hit. By mid-1999, Sheikh Mohammed's plan shifts: he now plans to fly five planes into East Coast targets and explode five other planes bound from Asia for the United States in mid-air above the Pacific Ocean, all about the same time. Sheikh Moh
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Moussaoui makes payments to Pan Am International Flight Academy in Minnesota to enroll in a simulator course in commercial flight training.
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Moussaoui buys two leatherman knives from an Oklahoma City store.
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Moussaoui attends classes at the Pan Am Flight Academy and uses its commercial flight training simulator
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A flight instructor suspicious of Moussaoui's behavior notifies the Minneapolis office of the F.B.I.
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Moussaoui is arrested on immigration charges, mainly as a way of keeping him out of circulation. The Minneapolis Office of the F.B.I. begins an investigation of possible terrorism connections and quickly becomes convinced that Moussaoui is part of a larger plot.
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French authorities notify the F.B.I. that Moussaoui is a suspected Islamic extremist.
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Harry Samit, a Minneapolis F.B.I. agent, writes a memo theorizing the Moussaoui might have been planning to fly a plane into the World Trade Center.
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Terrorists hijack four commercial airliners. Two planes are flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, causing both towers to collapse. A third plane crashes into the Pentagon, and a fourth--headed for the U.S. Capitol, crashes into a field in Pennsylvania. In all, nearly 3,000 people perish.
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The U. S. government announces that Moussaoui has been indicted on six charges related to the 9/11 conspiracy.
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Moussaoui is moved to Alexandria, VA for trial. Bail is denied. Moussaoui’s court-appointed lwyer says his client plans on pleading “not guilty.”
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Moussaoui refuses to plead; Judge Leonie Brinkema enters a plea of "not guilty."
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Prosecutors announce they will seek the death penalty in the Moussaoui case.
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Moussaoui is allowed to represent himself and proclaims his innocence. Court-appointed attorneys ask to be dismissed. Judge Brinkema orders to them to stay as standby.
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Moussaoui requests access to interview Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, called by the government 9-11's "mastermind."
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Citing the DOJ's decision to not allow Moussaoui to question of Al Qaeda leaders, Judge Brinkema announces that the government, as a penalty, will not be able to seek the death penalty.
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Moussaoui sends Judge Brinkema a letter saying he wants to plead guilty. The judge finds him mentally competent and accepts his plea.
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Jury selection begins in the trial to determine Moussaoui’s sentence--life or death.
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Opening statements are delivered in the Moussaoui trial.
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The jury finds that Moussaoui's lying to federal agents was responsible for deaths on 9/11 and that he is therefore eligible for the death penalty.
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The jury fails to agree unanimously on a sentence of death. Moussaoui is sentenced to life in prison.
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Moussaoui is flown by private jet to Colorado, where he is placed in a federal prison (called "Supermax") in Florence to begin serving his life sentence.
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Osama bin Laden releases a videotape in which he says Moussaoui had nothing to do with 9-11.