Zacarias Moussaoui was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment in solitary confinement without any prospect of release for his part in the 9/11 attacks on the United States - a horrendous prospect.
The only man to have been brought to trial for these outrages, he had faced a possibility of execution, should the jury have so decided. The result, reached after a prolonged 41-hour deliberation, vindicates due process and the rule of law on which American democracy is based.
The fact that Moussaoui received such a fair trial amidst huge national and international publicity is in stark contrast to the 490 prisoners held by the US without trial at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba on suspicion of involvement with al-Qaeda.
Moussaoui was directly involved in the plans for the 9/11 attacks, having been arrested by immigration police one month before them on suspicion. This same jury had decided he should stand trial for responsibility because he did not disclose what he knew then; but most of them believed his role was relatively minor.
The major mitigating factors taken into account by the jurors were his unstable early childhood in a dysfunctional Moroccan immigrant family in France and his experience of racism in French orphanages. While this cannot excuse his association with the group responsible, as shown by his provocative support for their cause during the trial, it vividly illustrates the contributory factors creating the rage that throws up such terrorism.
The jurors did reach their verdict to avoid giving Moussaoui the chance of martyrdom. Nevertheless the outcome shows that testimony from victims' relatives who oppose the death penalty made a real difference, making it more possible for the jurors to distinguish dispassionate analysis from a search for vengeance. It confirms a pronounced and welcome swing away from the death penalty throughout the United States, including in federal cases. The verdict cuts across the strong case made by the federal prosecution team, which argued that Moussaoui should be executed.
This trial and its outcome is a necessary reminder of the core values on which US justice is based. They endure strongly despite the "war against terrorism" pronounced by President Bush and the associated restrictions on liberty imposed by his administration.
The verdict should redouble the efforts of those opposed to arbitrary detention in Guantánamo to bring it to an end. It strengthens the argument that due legal process should not be abandoned in the face of threats to basic freedoms.