A U.S. federal judge has formally sentenced al-Qaida conspirator Zacharias Moussaoui to life in prison Thursday for his role in the September 2001 terror attacks.
Judge Leonie Brinkema handed down the sentence after a 12-member jury rejected the government's argument for execution. The life sentence comes without any possibility of release. Moussaoui used his opportunity to comment on the sentencing by cursing America and declaring, in his words "God save Osama bin Laden."
The 37-year-old convict, a French citizen born in Morocco, is expected to spend the rest of his life in what is called a "super-maximum security" prison in the western state of Colorado.
The French government has raised the possibility that it might eventually seek to have Moussaoui serve his sentence in France.
Moussaoui's mother, Aicha El Wafi, told French radio her lawyer would ask to allow her son to serve out his sentence in France.
Reaction to the sentence has been mostly positive. President Bush said it was a fair trial, and that the jury's decision to spare Moussaoui's life was a gesture the al-Qaida member apparently would not have offered to innocent Americans.
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is in Austria Thursday, told reporters in Vienna that justice was served.Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
