Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person tried and convicted in the United States in connection with Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, has filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

The motion was filed with a federal District Court last Friday but released Monday.

In the motion, Moussaoui, 37, said he lied when he testified last year that he was involved in the plot even though he knew that was a "complete fabrication."

He said he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea because he now believed he could get a fair trial.

A federal court jury sentenced him to life in jail last week, and U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema last Thursday gave him six life sentences, to be served in the federal supermax prison at Florence, Colorado.

Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers said they filed the motion even though they were aware of a federal rule that prohibits a defendant from withdrawing a guilty plea a sentence is imposed.

Moussaoui, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent, was arrested in August 2001, about one month before the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.

He pleaded guilty last April to six counts of conspiracy, and in March 27 this year, he testified that he and another conspirator were supposed to attack the White House on Sept. 11, 2001, with a fifth hijacked plane.

Source: Xinhua