Zacarias Moussaoui's redacted brief in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is now available online here. Oral arguments are set for Dec. 3. Moussaoui says the testimony of three government witnesses could save his life.

Terrorism defendant Zacarias Moussaoui needs access to three al-Qaida prisoners to prove he was not part of the Sept. 11 conspiracy and to spare his life, his lawyers said Friday. With the government seeking the death penalty, the three witnesses could demonstrate that Moussaoui was, at most, a bit player in the conspiracy, the defense team told an appellate court in a written filing.

Oral arguments are December 3. At issue is whether Moussaoui will be given access to Ramzi Binalshibh, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and one other prisoner. The trial judge ordered the government to make the witnesses available to Moussaoui and the Government has appealed.

The defense motion accused the government of ignoring the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees defendants information that might exonerate them; and the Eighth Amendment, which provides protection against cruel and unusual punishment in this case, the death penalty. "No matter how well the government dresses up its arguments, the truth is that it seeks absolute power to withhold material, exculpatory witnesses in a death penalty case without suffering sanctions," the filing said.

But even if the government wins the argument over witness access, "the Eighth Amendment cannot tolerate a death sentence where the government has control over, but will not produce, witnesses" whose testimony could aid Moussaoui, the lawyers said.