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| 2005-03-02 |
| Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, the American student accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush, told Saudi interrogators in 2003 that he and associates with Al Qaeda had also discussed hijacking planes over American airspace, attacking military bases and killing members of Congress, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation testified Tuesday. But the agent said he was not present at the time of Mr. Abu Ali's alleged admissions to Saudi investigators, and defense lawyers argued that any confessions that he may have made while in Saudi custody for 20 months came as result of torture by his Saudi captors. John K. Zwerling, one of the defendant's lawyers, likened the defendant's alleged admissions to those of a hostage being forced to read a "confession" on videotape before being beheaded. The court testimony came at a bail hearing for Mr. Abu Ali, 23, a former valedictorian at an Islamic high school in Northern Virginia who was charged in an indictment unsealed last week with having provided material support to Al Qaeda while studying in Saudi Arabia in 2002 and 2003. Mr. Abu Ali was arrested there 20 months ago and held without charges until last week. At the close of the hearing here, Magistrate Judge Liam O'Grady of Federal District Court refused to release Mr. Abu Ali on bail, saying that he found "clear and convincing evidence" that the defendant represented a grave threat to the community and that he was a flight risk. But at the same time, Judge O'Grady voiced some support for a central defense claim, saying that he was disturbed by an e-mail message that a senior F.B.I. official sent last year. In it, the official said that investigators for the bureau were no longer interested in Mr. Abu Ali. The defense contends that even though investigators had lost interest in Mr. Abu Ali's case many months ago, the Justice Department decided to bring criminal charges against him last month after realizing that it was in danger of losing a civil lawsuit brought by the defendant's parents. In the indictment, prosecutors said the suspect's dealings with Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia included discussions about shooting Mr. Bush on a street or blowing up a bomb near him. In seeking to have Mr. Abu Ali kept in custody, prosecutors introduced the new accusations. Before the hearing began, a court officer warned Mr. Abu Ali's parents against trying to communicate with him, even by waving. The defendant, dressed in a forest green prison suit and with a thick black beard, sat stoically at the defense table. Though he appeared healthy, his lawyer said his back had been scarred by whippings by Saudi interrogators. Barry Cole, a counter-terrorism agent with the F.B.I. who worked on the case, testified that in oral and written statements to the Saudis in 2003, Mr. Abu Ali admitted to joining a Qaeda cell. Among the terrorist plots that Mr. Abu Ali reportedly acknowledged in his statements to the Saudis, Mr. Cole said, was a plan by Al Qaeda to board a plane from England or Australia to avoid American security, hijack it over American airspace and crash it into a building in the manner of the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Cole said the defendant also acknowledged that he and associates with Al Qaeda discussed plots to bomb American ships and planes at military bases, kill unidentified members of Congress and rescue prisoners held at Guantänamo Bay, Cuba. The agent did not detail the methods for such attacks, and like the reported plot to assassinate the president, there was no indication from Tuesday's court testimony that plans moved past the discussion stage. Mr. Cole said that another member of the Saudi cell, identified in Mr. Abu Ali's indictment only as Co-conspirator No. 4, had turned himself in to the Saudis and had also admitted taking part in discussions about terrorist operations against the United States. A third person linked to the cell, identified as Co-conspirator No. 2, had talked with Mr. Abu Ali about killing Mr. Bush and about inflicting "mass casualties" against Americans, but he was killed in a shootout with the Saudis in 2003, the agent testified. The F.B.I. agent said he was basing his testimony on reports, videos and other material that the United States received from the Saudis. But the agent said he interviewed the defendant in Riyadh in September 2003 over a period of four days. Mr. Abu Ali asked for a lawyer, the agent testified, but after the United States passed on the request, the Saudis refused to give him one. Although evidence from such an interrogation is likely to be challenged by defense lawyers as inadmissible in a criminal proceeding, the agent said he continued interviewing Mr. Abu Ali in order to gather intelligence that was considered "vital to national security." The agent said Mr. Abu Ali also asked the F.B.I. to pass along a letter he had written to his parents in Falls Church, Va. Reading from a copy of the letter, the agent said that Mr. Abu Ali acknowledged to his family that he would probably spend years in prison as a result of terrorism charges against him and told them, "Everyone makes mistakes." Several dozen family members and friends of Mr. Abu Ali's packed the courtroom to watch the hearing. Some gasped as Judge O'Grady said that he thought comments the family had made in the news media were "consistent with jihadist rhetoric." Noting that pro-Qaeda material had been found in the family's home, the judge said he was concerned about turning the suspect over to their custody. Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation and a spokesman for the family, said the family was disappointed by the judge's decision to keep Mr. Abu Ali in custody. But he added: "Their faith in God is strong, and they feel ultimately their son will be vindicated." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 The family of Abu Ali as well as Abu Ali himself are engaging in a classic case of taqqiya (religious deception). Maybe, just maybe, someone in the MSM will eventually point this out. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-03-02 10:40:39 AM |
| #2 "...investigators had lost interest in Mr. Abu Ali’s case..." I can understand that. If you can't get him executed and you can keep him in detention, why bother to proceed? As far as I'm concerned, he morphed from U.S. citizen to non-uniformed enemy combatant when he went to Saudi Jihadi University. He should be at Gitmo. |
| Posted by: Tom 2005-03-02 8:45:43 AM |
| #1 Kudos to the judge for keeping him in jug. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-03-02 12:44:15 AM |