Author: Jerry Markon
Publication: Washington Post
Date: September 9, 2005
URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090801785.html
Torture Allegation Hangs Over Case
An American student was charged yesterday
in an al Qaeda plot to kill President Bush, with prosecutors alleging that
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali and his confederates planned to use multiple snipers to
shoot Bush or to blow him up in a suicide bombing.
The expanded indictment of Abu Ali, returned
by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, also claimed for the first time that
he proposed a plan to bring members of an al Qaeda cell into the United States
through Mexico. They would then link up with Abu Ali to conduct terrorist
operations in this country, the indictment said.
Abu Ali, 24, of Falls Church was first charged
in February with terrorism counts that included trying to establish an al
Qaeda cell in the United States. That indictment referred to the plot to kill
Bush, but Abu Ali was not charged with conspiring to assassinate the president
until yesterday. The case is among the highest-profile terrorism prosecutions
in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The new nine-count indictment also adds charges
of conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy and destroy aircraft, part of the
Justice Department's allegations that Abu Ali was plotting with al Qaeda to
conduct a Sept. 11-style attack in the United States that would include hijacking
planes.
If convicted on the assassination count alone,
Abu Ali faces up to life in prison. Earlier, his maximum penalty on all counts
had been 80 years in prison.
An attorney for Abu Ali, who has pleaded not
guilty, did not return telephone calls late yesterday, and a White House spokesman
referred calls to the Justice Department. Prosecutors would not comment beyond
the indictment.
Abu Ali was arrested by security officials
in June 2003 while studying at a university in Saudi Arabia. His family mounted
a highly public campaign in the United States for his release. He was held
until he was flown back to the United States in February to face charges.
Defense attorneys and Abu Ali's family have
contended that any statements he made in Saudi custody were obtained through
torture. Two doctors who examined Abu Ali found evidence that he was tortured
in Saudi Arabia, including scars on his back consistent with having been whipped,
defense lawyers have said in court papers.
Prosecutors have denied that Abu Ali was tortured.
But if a federal judge concludes that he was, much of the evidence against
him could be thrown out because it was obtained under duress. The torture
allegations are expected to play a key role in a hearing scheduled to start
Sept. 19.
Law enforcement sources have said the plot
against Bush, allegedly hatched while Abu Ali was studying in Saudi Arabia
and after he joined an al Qaeda cell there, never advanced beyond the talking
stage. The new indictment says two options were considered: multiple snipers
shooting the president or a suicide operation.
The earlier indictment said nothing about
snipers, only that Abu Ali would get close enough to Bush to "shoot him
on the street" or would detonate a car bomb.
Several other allegations emerged yesterday
about Abu Ali's alleged relationship with Osama bin Laden's organization.
The indictment says he performed guard duty in 2003 for an al Qaeda cell at
one of its locations in the Medina area of Saudi Arabia. It also says that
in response to a request from an al Qaeda co-conspirator, Abu Ali translated
from English into Arabic the audio portions of a video concerning operations
by U.S. military aircraft in Afghanistan.
Abu Ali's case has generated strong interest
among Muslims in Northern Virginia. The government says he confessed to the
assassination plot while being detained in Saudi Arabia and admitted discussing
with al Qaeda his plans to conduct attacks in the United States that included
crashing hijacked planes into buildings.
Abu Ali will be arraigned on the charges in
the new indictment on Wednesday.