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Defense at Padilla Trial Raises a Dispute Over Translations
Defense lawyers at the terrorism trial of Jose Padilla on Monday challenged the accuracy of some translations and interpretations used by prosecutors. In the first day of defense testimony, lawyers argued that some expressions used by terror suspects in conversations wiretapped by the F.B.I. were not code words for waging jihad, or holy war, but rather were common Arabic euphemisms for activities like collecting donations for Muslim orphans overseas A professional Arabic translator, Kamal Yunis, told a defense lawyer, Jeanne Baker, that the surreptitiously recorded remarks made by her client, Adham Hassoun, also a terror suspect, were not about buying arms or supporting jihad, as translators and F.B.I. agents had testified for the prosecution, but were references to fund-raising for children whose parents were killed in conflicts like those in Kosovo, Lebanon and Somalia. Mr. Yunis said that a phone call in 1997 with a Lebanese religious leader in which Mr. Hassoun expressed a desire to send you two eggplants was an expression understood by both men to mean $2,000 in donations for Muslim children abroad. Translators had testified for the prosecution that the eggplants were rocket-propelled grenades bought with Muslims donations. Mr. Hassouns references to football were another way to say someone was kicked around, Mr. Yunis testified, contradicting translations by prosecution experts who said football referred to jihad. Mr. Hassoun and another defendant, Kifah Jayyousi, were heard using those and other unusual expressions in thousands of hours of calls collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation over nearly 10 years. The three men are accused of providing money, equipment and other support to terrorist organizations abroad. A prosecutor, Russell Killinger, questioned Mr. Yuniss credentials. Questioning his honesty might be even more pertinent. Posted by: ryuge 2007-07-24 |
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