Statements Procured Under Duress in a Saudi Prison Are Now Being Used by U.S. Prosecutors in a U.S. Court

By ELAINE CASSEL
Findlaw, Monday, Nov. 07, 2005

Ahmed Abu Ali is an American – a resident of Falls Church, Virginia. In the summer of 2003, Abu Ali was taking final exams in a Saudi Arabian university, and looking forward to returning home to his family in Northern Virginia for the summer.

But Abu Ali did not come home. Instead, Saudi law enforcement authorities forcibly removed him from his classroom and imprisoned him for twenty months. Later, as I detailed in an earlier column,
Abu Ali did return to Virginia – but to face federal charges of conspiracy to aid and abet terrorism.

This September, the government added new charges in a new indictment. And this October, Judge Gerald Lee denied Abu Ali’s motions to suppress, as evidence, what the government alleges are confessions to several serious terrorism crimes. (He also denied Abu Ali’s related motion to dismiss the charges in light of the way the evidence was procured.) Now, the trial has begun.

In this column, I will explore some troubling aspects of the indictment and the interrogation that gave rise to it.

Why the Charges Against Abu Ali Are Shaky

Abu Ali is charged with plotting to bring al Qaeda members into the U.S. by means of Mexico, to commit aircraft piracy, and to kill President Bush through the use of suicide bombers and snipers. Abu Ali faces possible life imprisonment on these very serious charges. But whether there ever was such a conspiracy is doubtful.

Consider, first, that all of Abu Ali’s alleged co-conspirators are unnamed. Some, it seems, have been convicted in connection with other Alexandria “terrorism” cases (including the Paintball cases, which I have discussed in another column) as well. Their “cooperation” with prosecutors could lead to reductions in their long sentences.

Consider, too, that typically, a conspiracy charge requires not just talk, but an “overt act.” And here, the only acts the government alleges are purchases of a cell phone and a laptop.

So this case is really about talk. Yet much of the government’s evidence regarding what Abu Ali allegedly talked about, comes from his interrogation by his Saudi captors and FBI agents, in a Saudi prison – interrogation that was not only unconstitutional, but highly unreliable.
For Full article: Findlaw

Elaine Cassel is the author of the book,”The War on Civil Liberties”. Llink to her civil liberties watch site from this site, see links at right.