Prometheus 6   

U.S. Will Defy Court's Order in Terror Case
By PHILIP SHENON

ASHINGTON, July 14 � The Justice Department said today that it would defy a court order and refuse to make a captured member of Al Qaeda available for testimony in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui.

The department acknowledged that its decision could force a federal judge to dismiss the indictment against Mr. Moussaoui, the only person facing trial in the United States in connection with the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In court papers, the department said Attorney General John Ashcroft had determined that testimony from the accused terrorist Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a confessed participant in the Sept. 11 attacks, "would necessarily result in the unauthorized disclosure of classified information" and that "such a scenario is unacceptable to the government."

"The government recognizes that the attorney general's objection means that the deposition cannot go forward and obligates the court now to dismiss the indictment unless the court finds that the interests of justice can be served by another action," the department said in the papers filed in Federal District Court in Alexandria, Va.

Bush administration officials have said for months that if Mr. Moussaoui's indictment were dismissed, his prosecution would almost certainly be moved to a military tribunal, where Mr. Moussaoui would be expected to have fewer rights to gather testimony from witnesses like Mr. bin al-Shibh.