|
Peoria Journal Star - August 10, 2006
Judge refuses to release al-Marri
Former BU student still being held as 'enemy combatant'
By ANDY KRAVETZ
PEORIA - A federal judge in South Carolina has thrown out a former Bradley University student's demand to be released from military custody.
U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd wrote in a 16-page order filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Charleston that the government had proved that Ali Saleh Kahleh al-Marri was an "enemy combatant," and therefore could be held indefinitely by the military.
Furthermore, Floyd held the former West Peoria man's insistence of not presenting any evidence to rebut the government's contentions were his downfall. "The court finds that (al-Marri) has received notice of the factual basis supporting his detention and has been afforded a meaningful opportunity to rebut that evidence. As a review of that evidence does not indicate that an 'erroneous deprivation' has occurred, this petition should be dismissed," the judge wrote.
The move, while expected, is a setback for al-Marri, a Qatari national who has been held in custody since his arrest in mid-December 2001.
"It was expected - this is an issue that will have to be decided by the Supreme Court, because only the Supreme Court knows how it intended the Hamdi decision to apply to an individual, like al-Marri, who was arrested in his home in Peoria," said Marc Berman, a New Jersey-based attorney on Wednesday, referring to a 2004 Supreme Court decision involving Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S. citizen who was also named as an enemy combatant.
In that case, the high court held that citizens like Hamdi must "be given a meaningful opportunity to contest the factual basis for that detention," and Berman and al-Marri's other attorneys hoped that would open a door for them to challenge his incarceration.
But a magistrate judge in May and Floyd this week nixed that, saying there was clearly a difference between the two cases. Berman indicated he would appeal Floyd's ruling.
Al-Marri remains the only named person still held as an enemy combatant. Only two others have been identified; Hamdi, who was released after it was deemed he was no longer a threat, and the other, Jose Padilla, was charged criminally.
Authorities have alleged al-Marri was an al-Qaida "sleeper agent" who was in the United States to disrupt the nation's banking system. Al-Marri has denied those allegations.
http://www.pjstar.com/stories/081006/TRI_BAKKUF1U.064.shtml
Chicago Tribune - August 9, 2006
Judge rules out anonymous jury at terrorism trial
By MIKE ROBINSON
CHICAGO -- A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a government request for an anonymous jury at the upcoming trial of two men charged with helping to finance terrorism by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
"The government has not presented evidence that either defendant has a history or likelihood of obstruction of justice or has previously attempted to interfere with the judicial process to the extent necessary to warrant empaneling an anonymous jury," Judge Amy J. St. Eve said.
Her ruling came in the case of Muhammad Salah, 53, of suburban Bridgeview, and Abdelhaleem Ashqar, 48, of Alexandria, Va. They are charged in a racketeering indictment with financing Hamas terrorism.
Prosecutors had asked for an anonymous jury, saying the two men were associated with Hamas, whose members might be able to intimidate or take reprisals against jurors. But Salah's attorneys said the two defendants posed no danger to jurors and that the jury would be prejudiced against their clients if told that they might become targets merely by sitting in the case….
Salah and Ashqar are due to stand trial in October. The government claims the two raised money for Hamas and smuggled it into Israel to use in attacks by the group on the Israeli army and civilians.
Salah was arrested in Israel in January 1993 and served five years in prison there for Hamas activity before his release and return to Chicago. Salah says he was tortured by the Israelis into making a number of admissions he now recants.
The case has been marked by extraordinary secrecy. When Salah objected to the use of the now-recanted statements as evidence at his upcoming trial, the government brought in two Israeli security agents to testify that he was not tortured but made the statements freely.
The Israeli agents were allowed to testify under bogus names to hide their true identities from Hamas. They took the witness stand in a courtroom from which the public was barred, and some of their testimony was given in the judge's chambers without even defense attorneys present…..
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-ap-il-hamasindictment,1,774316.story?coll=chi-news-hed
|
