Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 6, 1994 TAG: 9403060009
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Fifteen more Muslim fundamentalists, led by a blind cleric who allegedly masterminded the conspiracy, will go on trial in September. They are accused of plotting to bomb military installations, the United Nations and tunnels and bridges linking New York and New Jersey; kill or kidnap FBI agents and judges; and assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
The trade center case ended Friday with all four defendants convicted of the Feb. 26, 1993, bombing, which killed six people and injured 1,000. They face life in prison without parole at their May 4 sentencing.
U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said the verdicts "should send a clear and unmistakable message that we will not tolerate terrorism in this country."
Defense lawyers involved in the second case, including veteran civil rights attorney William Kunstler, watched the trade center trial closely because its outcome will shape their strategy.
Kunstler found the verdicts disheartening. He said they were "proof to me that the jury pool is so tainted that I don't think any Islamic person can get a fair trial. Now that they have four convictions, people are going to assume the government was correct, it was these guys."
Stephen Gillers, a New York University law professor, agreed that the convictions "put the government on a roll" and boosted its chances in the upcoming trial.
"It's like a play coming onto Broadway with raves from its run in Boston," he said.
The trade center trial was remarkable for its number of witnesses, 207, and its more than 1,000 pieces of evidence. It also was deadly dull at times; even U.S. District Judge Kevin Duffy complained of boredom.
But the conspiracy trial promises to be far more interesting, with elements that the first trial lacked - a turncoat, a star witness and lots of secretly taped conversations.
The turncoat is defendant Abdo Mohammed Haggag, who has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. The star witness is Emad Salem, a government informant who will be heard on hundreds of hours of secretly recorded tapes, allegedly discussing various plots with the defendants.
The most prominent defendant will be Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind Muslim cleric who has built a large following in the New York metropolitan area with his fiery rhetoric.
Prosecutors say it was Abdel-Rahman who conceived the plots. But before the alleged conspirators could carry out their plans, FBI agents raided a Queens garage in June and caught five men mixing explosives, along with Salem, the government informant.
Abdel-Rahman commands a special presence in the courtroom, where he is permitted to wear his clergyman's clothing, including a red hat. He has been held since last summer in a specially built section of the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in the borough of Manhattan.
Another notable defendant is El Sayyid Nosair, who was acquitted of killing extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane but has been jailed for three years on related weapons charges.
by CNB