ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI is facing the death penalty after a jury found that his lies to FBI agents had resulted in people being killed on 9/11.

The jury reached a unanimous verdict that Moussaoui, the only al-Qaeda plotter ever to face trial for the attacks on the US, should be eligible for execution. He had previously pleaded guilty to the charges, so the trial in Alexandria, Virginia, is deciding whether he should die by lethal injection or be imprisoned for life.

It will now go to its second phase, where defence witnesses are expected to plea mitigation by describing his troubled family history and possible schizophrenia.

But legal experts say that the prosecution, which plans to call as witnesses about 40 relatives of 9/11 victims, has a relatively easy job of proving that his crimes were sufficiently abominable to justify the death sentence.

Moussaoui, 37, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent, initially greeted the verdict impassively. But as the jury filed out he began shouting at them — as he has at the end of each day’s proceedings. “You’ll never get my blood!” he said. “God curse you all!” His erratic behaviour has been the most noteworthy feature of a trial that had otherwise been characterised by a series of blunders by prosecutors. Moussaoui was arrested in Minnesota a month before 9/11 after arousing suspicions when learning how to fly a Boeing 747. Prosecutors have argued that by failing to warn FBI agents of the plot he was responsible for the murder of 2,973 people.

He said that he was in flight school for fun and was visiting the US as a tourist. Although later admitting to being part of al-Qaeda, he denied having any knowledge of the plot.

The defence has presented him as a pathetic figure who never made the grade among al-Qaeda terrorists. The prosecution case rested on the testimony of aviation officials that they could have prevented the hijackings if they had known of the plot earlier. This was undermined when a government lawyer was caught coaching these witnesses. The judge even threatened to dismiss the case, a decision that would have ruled out execution, saying she had never seen “a more egregious violation of the rule about witnesses”.

But a week ago Moussaoui transformed the trial, when he ignored the advice and pleas of defence lawyers and took the witness stand with testimony that has been compared to a suicide attempt. He said that he had been part of the plot and was supposed to fly a fifth airliner into the White House. “I didn’t say the truth, because I am al-Qaeda — because I am at war with this country,” he said.

Robert Spencer, the prosecutor, asked him, “The reason you lied was to allow the people that you knew were in the US to go forward with the hijackings, right?” Moussaoui replied: “You can say that.”

He testified that the Prophet Muhammad taught “War is deceit”. Lying is permissible during jihad, or holy war, said Moussaoui, adding: “You are allowed any technique to deceive your enemy.”

Not only did Moussaoui confess to everything of which the prosecution had accused him, he added a new detail that his co-conspirator in the hijacking plan was Richard Reid, the British “shoe bomber” sentenced to life imprisonment after trying to blow up a transatlantic jet in December 2001.

The US Government said that it was “pleased” by the jury’s ruling.

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