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| Judge Upholds Terrorism Conviction of Osama Bin Laden Aide | |
| 2005-11-02 | |
| NEW YORK (AP) - A judge on Wednesday upheld the conviction of an aide to Osama bin Laden in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa despite government "inaction, incompetence and stonewalling" that he said had seriously jeopardized its case. U.S. District Judge Kevin Duffy wrote that there were "grave concerns" that Wadih El-Hage should be retried because the U.S. Marshal's Service suppressed evidence during El-Hage's 2001 conspiracy trial. However, Duffy denied El-Hage a new trial, saying that none of the undisclosed material was powerful enough to displace the government's other evidence of El-Hage's guilt. The judge said the Marshal's Service and the Department of Justice's Office of Enforcement Operations jeopardized El-Hage's conviction "through a mixture of inaction, incompetence and stonewalling to cover up their mistakes."
El-Hage, a former personal secretary to Osama bin Laden, and three others were sentenced to life in prison after they were convicted of conspiracy in the 1998 bombings of the embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The attacks killed 224 people, 12 of them Americans. Lawyers for El-Hage challenged the 2001 conviction on several grounds, including that the government failed to turn over videotapes of interviews with Jamal al-Fadl, one of al-Qaida's first members and the prosecution's first witness, until more than 15 months after the trial. Al-Fadl identified El-Hage in court and said El-Hage received a salary from al-Qaida and was trained to handle its payroll. Prosecutors said they didn't learn of the videotapes, made while al-Fadl was in a witness-protection program, until early 2002. A spokeswoman for the government, Megan Gaffney, said she had no immediate comment. There was no immediate response to a call seeking comment from a lawyer for El-Hage. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 See that's the way to handle this little terroism problem, trials. Let's try ever one of them. Put them in jail - civilized jails that is. Fine, they want to blow up a building or some kids, but they better remember they gonna have to face a Federal Judge and they just may find themselves in the slammer. |
| Posted by: Hank 2005-11-02 17:07 |
| #1 Maybe UBL can forgo the obligatory tasteful flower arrangemnt for secretary's day and just send his man a couple of cartons of Mecca Menthols. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2005-11-02 17:00 |