Moussaoui Claims FBI Planted Fan

Zacarias Moussaoui, accused of conspiring in the Sept. 11 attacks, claims the FBI planted a tracking device in an electric fan that mysteriously appeared on his car in Oklahoma four months before his arrest in Minnesota, according to court records unsealed Monday.

The motion, one of more than four dozen Moussaoui has filed since becoming his own lawyer last month, adds a new element to the 34-year-old French citizen’s contention that U.S. authorities know he is innocent of the attacks on New York and Washington because they had him and the 19 hijackers under surveillance for months.

The government has said neither Moussaoui nor any of the hijackers were being watched by U.S. authorities before Sept. 11.

Monday was the deadline for Moussaoui to file motions before his trial this fall on charges that he conspired to commit acts of terrorism, commit aircraft piracy, destroy aircraft, use weapons of mass destruction, murder U.S. employees and destroy property. The government has said it will seek the death penalty.

Moussaoui asked last week for permission to testify before Congress about his conspiracy theory. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema relayed his request to congressional leaders.

Leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence committees will discuss the request later this week, a spokesman for Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), chairman of the Senate panel, said Monday. But there seemed to be little interest among lawmakers to hear from the only person charged in connection with the attacks.

In the motions unsealed Monday, Moussaoui asked for an independent forensic examination of an electric fan he said was “mysteriously left on my car like a present or gift” when he was living in Oklahoma. He said he left the fan in his apartment when he moved to Minnesota, where he was arrested Aug. 16 after raising suspicions of instructors at a flight school.

He said the FBI “must have used the stratagem to avoid to have to go to a judge to get a warrant to plant electronic surveillance device.”

Moussaoui took a shot at President Bush in one motion, comparing him to the Roman emperor in the movie “Gladiator.”

“The one who say that he was going to return honors to the office was definitely talking about Ceasar Type Honors like in Gladiator: Stabbing the enemy in the back before the fight. Not surprising for Daddy son. Leading (or I must say cheating) from the back,” he wrote.