Bail Denied in ‘Rendition’ Terror Case

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen accused of plotting with al-Qaeda to assassinate President George W. Bush, will remain in jail pending trial.

That was the ruling yesterday by a federal magistrate in Alexandria, Virginia. And part of his reasoning may be found in a most unlikely place: a provision in the intelligence reform legislation that Congress passed last year.

Traditionally, the burden of proof has been on the accuser. But a little-known part of the new intelligence law reversed that tradition, putting the burden on those accused of terrorism-related offenses to show why they are not a danger or a flight risk.

Abu Ali’s detention hearing today in U.S. District Court was the first test of the revised law. Ali, who had been detained in Saudi Arabia without charge or access to lawyers for nearly two years, was charged in an indictment unsealed last week with plotting to kill Bush and to establish an al-Qaeda cell in the United States.

The Justice Department sought the bail law revision as part of the crackdown on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. It passed as part of intelligence agency changes proposed by the 9/11 Commission, which investigated those attacks.

In court papers filed last week, federal prosecutors cited the law, claiming that Abu Ali was a "grave danger" and should be denied bail.

Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation and a spokesman for the family, told the New York Times that the family was disappointed by the judge’s decision to keep Abu Ali in custody.

But he added: "Their faith in God is strong, and they feel ultimately their son will be vindicated."

An agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Barry Cole, testified at the bond hearing that Abu Ali had admitted joining al-Qaeda while studying in Saudi Arabia.

Cole said Abu Ali discussed plans with al-Qaeda for Sept. 11, 2001 attacks involving hijacked aircraft. He said the suspect also mentioned targeting members of Congress and blowing up U.S. Navy ships. The agent said the confessions were verified by an al-Qaeda cell leader who turned himself in to authorities.

Defense lawyers said the government obtained its evidence through torture while Abu Ali was being held in a Saudi Arabian prison, and called the information unreliable. Prosecutors deny any torture allegations.

The denial of bond was only the latest twist in a case that has been marked by repeated twists and turns.

Last week, as defense attorneys were filing court papers charging that the U.S. government was hiding behind secret evidence and demanding their client’s release from a Saudi Arabian prison, Abu Ali was being whisked back to the United States and charged with conspiring to kill Bush.

Abu Ali, whose home is in Falls Church, Va., contended he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars.

The federal indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified co-conspirator discussed plans for Abu Ali to assassinate Bush.

They discussed two scenarios, the indictment said, one in which Abu Ali "would get close enough to the president to shoot him on the street" and, alternatively, "an operation in which Abu Ali would detonate a car bomb."

According to federal prosecutors, Abu Ali joined an al-Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia in 2001. The alleged Bush plot occurred while he was studying in that country.

Abu Ali is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda, providing material support to al-Qaeda, conspiracy to provide support to terrorists, providing material support to terrorists, and contributing service to al-Qaeda. If convicted, he could face up to 80 years in prison.

Virtually as Abu Ali was being secretly returned to the U.S. in government custody, lawyers representing his parents were filing court papers contending that U.S. officials were behind his detention by Saudi authorities and wanted him held in that country so he could be tortured for information.

The lawsuit brought on their behalf in U.S. District Court in Washington was seeking to compel the government to disclose what it knows about Abu Ali and his detention. The government then apparently filed a secret motion to have the case dismissed, and the defense team’s response was prepared without ever having seen the government’s motion.

"I’ve been involved in many secret evidence cases before, but never where a U.S. citizen’s liberty has been at stake," David Cole of the Georgetown Law Center, one of Abu Ali’s defense attorneys, told IPS.

"The government maintains that it can dispose of a legal challenge to a U.S. citizen’s detention without even allowing his lawyers to see the evidence or the argument being used against him. We are left to fight shadows."

Saudi authorities claimed they had no case against Abu Ali, and that his detention was at the behest of the U.S. government.

U.S. officials deny having anything to do with his arrest or imprisonment, but have declined to publicly produce any evidence to document this claim. FBI agents visited Ali during his detention.

Ali’s parents say their son is a victim of "rendition" – when suspects are taken to, or held by, other countries and interrogated without the protection of U.S. laws. The practice is known to be used by the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies.

Frequently, the targets of rendition are sent to or detained by countries known to torture or abuse prisoners.

Author: William Fisher

William Fisher writes for Inter Press Service.