Posted on 05/29/2004 2:28:14 AM PDT by piasa
Court Reinstates Charges Against Local 9/11 Figure; El Cajon Student Accused Of Lying About Ties To Hijackers
SAN DIEGO -- A federal appeals court Friday reinstated charges against a Jordanian college student accused of lying about his associations with two of the Sept. 11 hijackers. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court judge's ruling that had dismissed perjury charges against Osama Awadallah in April 2002. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin had ruled that the government's jailing of material witnesses for a grand jury investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was unconstitutional. Awadallah was among four men arrested in San Diego County in the wake of the terror attacks. Investigators found he and the others associated with the two hijackers when they lived in the area. The appeals court said Friday that the indictment must be reinstated because the material witness warrant used to detain Awadallah for questioning was valid and his grand jury testimony should not have been suppressed.
The court also noted there was evidence that at least one of the Sept. 11 hijackers had Awadallah's home telephone number and had lived near him. "These facts alone establish probable cause to believe that Awadallah's testimony would be material to the grand jury investigating the Sept. 11 attacks," the court said.
If Awadallah is tried and convicted of perjury, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison.
Evidence against Awadallah, a student at Grossmont College in El Cajon, Calif., included videotapes and a picture of Osama bin Laden. The court also noted that Awadallah did not come forward with information after the terrorist attacks, rather FBI agents tracked him down on Sept. 20, 2001.
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(Excerpt) Read more at nbcsandiego.com ...
The Constitution is not a suicide pact. It is reassuring that the 2nd Circuit remembered that.
Its amazing too. This court is one of the most liberal in the country, made up of communists and other deritrus.
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