April 24, 2002	Wednesday	Safar 10, 1423

MONTPELLIER (France), April 23: Zacarias Moussaoui, the French national on trial in the United States for alleged involvement in the Sept 11 attacks, is being held in “unacceptable” conditions, which is why he decided to dismiss his US lawyers, a French attorney said on Tuesday.

“For the last seven months Zacarias Moussaoui has been held in what is in effect a cage,” said lawyer Francois Roux, who is now representing Moussaoui.

“It is understandable that someone living in such perfectly unacceptable detention conditions should react in such a way,” Roux said in the southern French city of Montpellier.

US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema, after a hearing on Monday with Mossaoui on his conditions of imprisonment, refused to dismiss his court-appointed lawyers.

Roux said he would nevertheless be working on the defence team.

Moussaoui, 33, is the first person to be charged in the United States in connection with the multiple attacks.—AFP