ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person indicted as a Sept. 11 conspirator, denied in court Thursday that he played any role in the attacks against the World Trade Center.

Moussaoui told a federal judge that the government "knew I was not in contact with these people who were to have done the hijacking."

Moussaoui appeared before U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, where he argued successfully to be allowed to represent himself in a trial later this year.

Brinkema, however, asked Moussaoui's current court-appointed lawyers to remain in the case even though they pleaded for her to dismiss them. Moussaoui has contended his lawyers are part of a conspiracy to kill him.

Moussaoui, who was at the lecturn to answer questions from the judge about his legal representation, kept asking Brinkema for a chance to reveal a secret that would compel the government "to withdraw the case today."

The judge repeatedly tried to cut him off, telling Moussaoui at one point that "we're not here for speeches." But near the end of the trial, the defendant was allowed to address the charge that he conspired with the hijackers to carry out the September attacks.

Moussaoui was arrested Aug. 16, when officials of a flight school became suspicious of his behavior. He told the judge the government "knew who I was when I entered the United States of America and decided to arrest me."

Moussaoui said the government's knowledge that he had no connection to the hijackers was related to information learned several years ago, when British authorities raided the address where he lived in London: 23-A Lambert Road, FW 2.

Moussaoui said that because of the raid, the U.S. government had launched an undercover surveillance operation against him.

Brinkema, in granting Moussaoui's request to represent himself, said his decision was "unwise but rational," adding that she agreed with a court-appointed psychiatrist that Moussaoui was mentally competent to make the decision.

Moussaoui, 34, a French citizen with a master's degree, wore a green jumpsuit with "prisoner" stamped on the back. He entered the room with U.S. marshals and initially was seated by himself at a separate table to the right of his court-appointed attorneys in the packed courtroom.

Moussaoui's mother, Aicha el-Wafi, who lives in France, attended the hearing, sitting in the second row with a black scarf covering her head.

Moussaoui told the judge that he has been contacted by a Muslim lawyer, who he said agreed to assist him in the case, for which jury selection is expected to commence in late September.

Brinkema said, however, this could happen only if the lawyer met court admission procedures for attorneys.

Government prosecutors did not object to Moussaoui's request for self-examination, but argued that the current court-appointed lawyers should remain in the case because of their expertise.

However, federal public defender Frank Dunham Jr. pleaded with the judge to dismiss him and his team.

"It's not fair to him" to keep the current lawyers in the case because of "this belief we're trying to kill him," Dunham said.

In advance of Thursday's hearing, a court-appointed physician, Dr. Raymond Patterson, concluded that Moussaoui was not suffering from a mental illness when he asked to fire his lawyers and represent himself.

Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers had argued in support of two psychologists they hired, who concluded that he was probably mentally ill and needed more testing before he makes a potentially fatal mistake. The government has said that it would seek the death penalty for Moussaoui.

Recent motions by both sides have revealed new information about Moussaoui's statements to Patterson and the conclusions in the competing mental health reports.

Moussaoui told Patterson he had "specific information regarding the Sept. 11 attacks" and, according to the defense, "he claims counsel are conspiring to kill him to keep him from revealing some heretofore undisclosed secret he wants to divulge in open court."

Government authorities think Moussaoui may have planned to be the 20th hijacker. Instead he was jailed on immigration violations in August.

At a court hearing in April, Moussaoui said he prayed to Allah for the destruction of the United States and Israel.

Patterson concluded that Moussaoui's decision to fire his lawyers was based on his belief that he was defending himself against a sworn enemy, the United States.

Defense lawyers likened Moussaoui to Nobel prize-winning mathematician John Nash. The subject of the Oscar-winning best picture "A Beautiful Mind," Nash suffered from paranoid schizophrenia but his genius sometimes made his disease difficult to recognize by those around him.

"Mr. Moussaoui's high intellect has much the same effect here," the defense lawyers said.