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Friend of Moussaoui pleads guilty to making false statements

Hussein al-Attas at Monday's court hearing.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A 24-year-old Saudi national described by his defense attorney as "naive" pleaded guilty Monday to lying to federal agents investigating accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, the first man facing U.S. criminal charges in connection with the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Hussein al-Attas appeared in federal District Court in Lower Manhattan to enter his plea on seven counts, though he had not yet been indicted. The plea deal was outlined in a letter sent to al-Attas' attorney last Thursday, the same day that Moussaoui told a federal judge in Virginia that he wants to plead guilty to terrorism conspiracy charges against him.

Al-Attas' attorney, Alexander Eisemann, said the timing was coincidental, though the agreement by al-Attas calls for him to testify against Moussaoui. The deal has been in the works for several months, Eisemann said.

The statutory maximum for each of the seven counts is five years in prison, or a total of 35 years.

Al-Attas will remain as a material witness in jail until he testifies at the Moussaoui trial, and then he will most likely be deported for having overstayed his student visa, Eisemann said.

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Assistant U.S. Attorney David Raskin told the court that "the charges speak for themselves" and the main evidence against al-Attas would have been the testimony of the FBI agents who had interrogated him.

Al-Attas met Moussaoui at a Norman, Oklahoma, mosque last year, Eisemann said, shortly after Moussaoui arrived there to enroll in the Airman Flight School. Al-Attas was an undergraduate at the University of Oklahoma finishing his junior year.

Al-Attas knew Moussaoui by his alias, "Shaqil," though he later learned his real name by seeing one of his luggage tags. He helped Moussaoui secure a place to live, and in early August drove him to Eagan, Minnesota, where Moussaoui enrolled in another flight school, Pan Am International.

"The truth is that on several occasions, during the short time I knew him, Shaqil had expressed a general desire to participate in jihad," meaning holy war, al-Attas told U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey. "So my statement to the contrary was false."

Al-Attas told the court that he had planned to go to Pakistan to explore the same possibilities, though last August he told FBI agents in Minnesota he would be seeking medical assistance for a sick relative in Saudi Arabia.

"The real reason was Shaqil had convinced me to go to speak to Islamic scholars and others who hold the belief that Islamic religion favors participation in jihad," Al-Attas told the court. He had an application for a visa to Pakistan with him during the car trip.

Al-Attas was first brought in for questioning August 17, 2001, the day after Moussaoui was detained. Instructors at Pan Am had reported Moussaoui to law enforcement after they became suspicious of his desire to train on a 747 simulator though he did not have a pilot's license.

Al-Attas admitted in court that he lied to FBI agents about knowing Moussaoui's real name, his real intentions for going to Pakistan and about whether he (al-Attas) had ever used a firearm; he had.

The FBI in Minnesota released Al Attas after questioning him, but on September 11, FBI agents in Oklahoma brought him in for more questioning. Al Attas admitted that he again lied to agents -- feigning ignorance of Moussaoui's desire to participate in jihad and withholding the name of at least one of Moussaoui's fellow students at the Oklahoma flight school.

"I did not want to say anything that would cause problems for anyone else, so I misled the agents," al-Attas told the court.

Al-Attas said he had falsely stated that he and Moussaoui had no plans to travel to New York late last August -- they did. The pair also originally planned to visit Los Angeles and Colorado for sightseeing but changed their minds, he said.

Al-Attas also admitted lying that it was his intention to return to fall semester classes at the university, when instead he was planning the Pakistan trip.

Eisemann said that al-Attas was a "generous" and "fairly naive man" who "was trying to help the wrong person at the wrong time."

"There is no evidence establishing that Mr. al-Attas was involved in, knew about, intended to promote any of the events that happened on or about September 11," Eisemann said.

The government's letter outlining the plea confirms that al-Attas "will not be charged with any such conduct."

Moussaoui is accused of participating in the terrorism and skyjacking conspiracy by attending flight schools and al Qaeda paramilitary camps in Afghanistan, and receiving funds from the hijackers' cell in Germany.

Moussaoui admitted in court last week belonging to al Qaeda, swearing allegiance to its leader, Osama bin Laden, and joining his conspiracy against America. But Moussaoui maintains he had no role in the September 11 attacks, while claiming he knows how they came about.

Eisemann said al-Attas "never believed" Moussaoui "was going to participate in anything like this" and that he doesn't share Moussaoui's beliefs in jihad.

Al-Attas stands little more than 5 feet tall. He appeared with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit.

Al-Attas has already been detained mostly in New York for more than 10 months, longer than the zero-to-six-month sentence recommended in the plea deal.

"The likelihood that I am going to come up with anything different is remote," Judge Mukasey said.

Moussaoui is scheduled to appear in federal District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday for a plea hearing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Karas, who is prosecuting Moussaoui and Al Attas, had no comment on the status of Moussaoui plea bargain talks or if any were under way.

Judge Mukasey scheduled al-Attas' sentencing for September 4.