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22 June 2004
Source: Digital file from Southern District Reporters Office; (212) 805-0300.
Note: Transcripts were not provided between 1 June and 21 June, 2004.
This is the transcript of Day 10; jury selection was completed and the trial commenced.
See other transcripts: http://cryptome.org/usa-v-ssy-dt.htm
Lynne Stewart web site with case documents: http://www.lynnestewart.org/
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1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
1 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
2 -------------------------------------x
2 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
3
3 v. S1 02 Cr. 395 (JGK)
4
4 AHMED ABDEL SATTAR, a/k/a "Abu Omar,"
5 a/k/a "Dr. Ahmed," LYNNE STEWART,
5 and MOHAMMED YOUSRY,
6
6 Defendants.
7 -------------------------------------x
7
8 June 22, 2004
8 9:45 a.m.
9
9
10
10 Before:
11 HON. JOHN G. KOELTL
11
12 District Judge
12
13
13 APPEARANCES
14
14 DAVID N. KELLEY
15 United States Attorney for the
15 Southern District of New York
16 ROBIN BAKER
16 CHRISTOPHER MORVILLO
17 ANTHONY BARKOW
17 ANDREW DEMBER
18 Assistant United States Attorneys
18
19 KENNETH A. PAUL
19 BARRY M. FALLICK
20 Attorneys for Defendant Sattar
20
21 MICHAEL TIGAR
21 JILL R. SHELLOW-LAVINE
22 Attorneys for Defendant Stewart
22
23 DAVID STERN
23 DAVID A. RUHNKE
24 Attorneys for Defendant Yousry
25
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1 (Trial resumed)
2 (In the robing room)
3 THE COURT: Good morning, all. It is good to see you
4 all.
5 My deputy informs me that juror No. 13, seat 4 has
6 something to bring to my attention. I have no idea what that
7 is. I don't talk to jurors by myself. And I would have one of
8 the lawyers for each of the parties and the parties themselves,
9 if the parties wanted them to be here, be in the room in the
10 back while I brought the juror in and asked the juror what it
11 is that the juror wanted to bring to my attention.
12 MR. PAUL: I don't think we want our clients here,
13 Judge.
14 MR. RUHNKE: That goes for us, too, your Honor.
15 THE COURT: Make sure that they waive their presence
16 then and then we will just have four lawyers here and I'll
17 explain it to the jury that I always have the lawyers here when
18 I talk to the juror. Don't be concerned about that.
19 Before we bring the juror in, Mr. Fletcher mentioned
20 one other thing to me that I want to bring to your attention,
21 and that is that the jurors want to disclose their names to
22 each other, or else refer to each other as nicknames, rather
23 than having to refer to each other by number. I have no
24 problem with the jurors telling each other their names. They
25 are simply not to disclose them to anyone else other than jury
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1 administrators and the marshals for purposes of transportation.
2 I'm happy to include that in my initial instructions to them.
3 MR. STERN: This not being a fraternity, I think they
4 should call each other by their real names.
5 THE COURT: Good. I agree. Let's bring in juror No.
6 13.
7 MR. FALLICK: Your Honor, do you want us to stand when
8 the juror comes in?
9 THE COURT: Whatever you are comfortable with. I
10 stand, but it really doesn't make a difference.
11 (Juror No. 13 present)
12 THE COURT: Juror No. 13, please have a seat.
13 Mr. Fletcher indicated there is something that you wanted to
14 bring to my attention. And whenever I talk to a juror I always
15 have the lawyers present.
16 A JUROR: The main issue that has influenced me, I
17 would say, is hearing on May 22 at a family gathering that my
18 older brother, who works for a freight airline, he told me on
19 the side that he is flying into Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar
20 on a regular basis, sometimes secretly and sometimes at night.
21 He is also flying into Entebbe in Africa for the CIA.
22 Fast forwarding that, it was not in the questionnaire.
23 I think the questionnaire was way before May 22. When you
24 asked the other day, has anything changed, this was in the back
25 of my mind. The previous questions were, could I overlook
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1 certain things like the 9/11 event and being impartial and I
2 said then yes the other day. When you asked again, which was
3 just yesterday, had anything changed, I did not bring it up.
4 Once I was selected and seated in the jury area, I
5 realized that I could not be impartial at that time. I was
6 looking at the prosecutors thinking, I'm on the same side and
7 that thought has stayed with me more since then. If things
8 hadn't changed radically in Saudi Arabia in the last week or so
9 with the Johnson incident, I think I would not be as shaking as
10 I find myself now. But I also have to say that I thought since
11 then they had said all American business-related trips were no
12 longer going to Saudi Arabia. I did call my brother last
13 night. I did not mention specifically the case. I said I had
14 to know if he is still traveling, and he is.
15 THE COURT: You have not discussed this with any of
16 the other jurors, have you?
17 A JUROR: No.
18 THE COURT: Could you step outside.
19 (Juror No. 13 not present)
20 THE COURT: I'll excuse the juror.
21 MR. STERN: Judge, I have spoken with the other
22 defendants and we believe that we are entitled to a mistrial.
23 We picked this jury. While I'm not saying this juror lied to
24 us, because I don't believe he lied to us, I believe in
25 selecting this jury we assume we had all the information we
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1 needed to pick a jury. In fact we didn't. We are now -- not
2 that we didn't pick the alternates, because obviously we did
3 pick the alternates. They are picked in a way that gives you
4 much less leeway as to who to choose and who not to choose. I
5 think we are all asking for a mistrial.
6 MR. DEMBER: I'm opposing it. This has obviously just
7 developed, certainly came to a head this morning with this
8 juror. He was open and honest about it and we are stuck with
9 the situation that nobody could have predicted. These things
10 happen during the course of trials and there is no basis for a
11 mistrial at this point.
12 MR. STERN: This isn't during the course of the trial
13 yet. No one has opened. All we have done is selected the
14 jury.
15 MR. DEMBER: And the jury has been sworn, your Honor.
16 THE COURT: I agree with that. There is no basis for
17 a mistrial.
18 Based upon what the juror has told us now, the juror
19 should be excused now. People don't disagree that the juror
20 should be excused now, right?
21 MR. STERN: Correct.
22 MR. DEMBER: Correct, your Honor.
23 THE COURT: And we went through a thorough and
24 extensive voir dire of all of the jurors, And we had sworn the
25 jury. And if a problem is disclosed to us after that occurred,
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1 we excuse the juror and seat the first alternate.
2 MR. STERN: Judge, I'm not quibbling with your ruling.
3 I want to be clear, they were asked on the questionnaire if
4 they knew anyone who lived or worked in the Middle East or that
5 area. He didn't tell us that. He knew a while ago, apparently
6 May 22 at least, that his brother worked in the Middle East
7 flying in and out of the Middle East. So we did make our
8 selections based -- I don't want to seem like I'm accusing him
9 of anything. I don't believe he purposely withheld any
10 information. But we did pick this jury based on this
11 information or maybe, more accurately, lack of information.
12 THE COURT: As I said before, it was a thorough and
13 fair jury selection process. The juror, thinking about it,
14 forthrightly brought forward now a problem and disclosed it in
15 a sense of utter fairness. And so the proper means to address
16 that is to excuse the juror. Everyone agrees that the juror
17 should be excused and to seat the first alternate, who is juror
18 No. 153. And I will excuse juror No. 13 and tell him that he
19 can go home. Mr. Fletcher will tell juror 153 to take seat No.
20 4, and I will tell the jurors that I've excused juror No. 13
21 and that they are not to speculate on the reasons that I have
22 done that. It has nothing to do with anything that they will
23 have to decide in the case. You want me to tell the jury
24 anything else?
25 MR. DEMBER: No, your Honor.
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1 MR. STERN: No.
2 MR. TIGAR: Your Honor, I assume it will be a matter
3 of public record. Your Honor has denied a mistrial and so on.
4 THE COURT: Well, that's -- we are keeping a
5 transcript and no one has asked that the transcript be sealed.
6 And the juror's anonymity is protected.
7 MR. STERN: Can we have two minutes to tell my client
8 what happened?
9 THE COURT: Sure.
10 We have to bring back juror No. 13, too. Juror No. 13
11 is excused.
12 (Juror No. 13 present)
13 THE COURT: I appreciate you bringing this to my
14 attention and I will excuse you and you are able to go home
15 now.
16 Obviously, in leaving, you shouldn't go back into the
17 jury room and don't talk to any of the other jurors. And,
18 again, I appreciate your bringing this to my attention. Thank
19 you.
20 A JUROR: I apologize for the confusion it may have
21 caused.
22 (Juror No. 13 excused)
23 MR. FALLICK: Your Honor, given where Mr. Sattar and I
24 sit, we would request that everyone use a microphone. The
25 acoustics are not the greatest in that courtroom. We are all
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1 the way at the end. We would like everybody to use the
2 microphone as much as possible.
3 THE COURT: Sure.
4 (In open court; jury not present)
5 THE COURT: Mr. Fletcher.
6 (Case called)
7 MR. MORVILLO: Good morning, your Honor, Christopher
8 Morvillo, Anthony Barkow, Andrew Dember, and Robin Baker for
9 the government.
10 MR. TIGAR: Good morning, your Honor, Michael Tigar
11 and Jill Shellow-Lavine for Lynne Stewart, who is present in
12 court.
13 MR. STERN: David Stern and David Ruhnke for Mohammed
14 Yousry, who is also present in court.
15 MR. FALLICK: Barry Fallick and Barry Paul for
16 Mr. Sattar.
17 THE COURT: Good morning, all. It is good to see you.
18 We are ready to bring in the jury.
19 THE DEPUTY CLERK: Yes, your Honor.
20 THE COURT: Do the parties want the case called to
21 announce themselves to the jury?
22 MR. RUHNKE: I don't see any reason to do that, Judge.
23 THE COURT: I introduced all before.
24 (Jury present)
25 THE COURT: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
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1 It is good to see you all.
2 Members of the jury, now that you have been sworn, I
3 will briefly tell you something about your duties as jurors and
4 give you some instructions. At the end of the trial I will
5 give you more detailed instructions and those instructions will
6 control your deliberations. At the end of the presentation of
7 the evidence and my final charge to you it will be your duty to
8 decide from the evidence what the facts are and whether the
9 government has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the
10 defendants have committed the crimes charged against them.
11 The fact that three people have been charged means
12 nothing in terms of whether the charges are true or not. Each
13 of the three people accused has pleaded not guilty to the
14 charges. Each is presumed to be innocent. And although all
15 three are being tried together, each of them is entitled to
16 your individual consideration of his or her own individual
17 case.
18 You, and you alone, are the judges of the facts. You
19 will hear the evidence, decide what the facts are, and then
20 apply those facts to the law which I will give to you. That is
21 how you will reach your verdict. In doing so you must follow
22 that law, whether you agree with it or not. You must not take
23 anything I may say or do during the trial as indicating what
24 your verdict should be.
25 Please don't be influenced by my taking notes. I take
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1 lots of notes. But what I write down may have nothing to do
2 with what you will be concerned with at the trial.
3 I would like to introduce you at the outset to some of
4 the court staff who you will see during the course of the
5 trial. As I explained to you yesterday, Mr. Don Fletcher is
6 the deputy clerk. As I also explained to you yesterday during
7 the trial, he will be responsible for giving the oath to
8 witnesses before they testify and keeping track of exhibits.
9 As you saw yesterday, we take the oath with extreme
10 importance. I ask everyone to watch carefully when the oath is
11 given. I ask people to put down their pens and pencils and
12 watch when a witness is sworn. Mr. Fletcher will swear the
13 witnesses. As I told you yesterday, importantly, from your
14 perspective, he will bring the jurors into and out of the
15 courtroom each time the jurors enter or leave the courtroom.
16 In the unlikely event that it is necessary for a juror to bring
17 something to the attention of the Court, the juror should
18 convey that to Mr. Fletcher, but please do not tell any other
19 juror about any matter you believe necessary to bring to the
20 Court's attention.
21 You should also not talk to Mr. Fletcher or indeed any
22 of the court staff about the substance of this case or any of
23 your views about the case. You should also remember never to
24 disclose your name or address to Mr. Fletcher or indeed any of
25 the court staff. That information is given only to the jury
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1 administrator's office and to the marshals for purposes of
2 transportation.
3 As I mentioned yesterday, I also instruct you not to
4 talk to the marshals about the substance or details of the
5 case, including scheduling. While the marshals will arrange
6 for transportation for you, you are not to talk to them about
7 anything to do with the case, including scheduling.
8 I would also like to introduce you to my law clerks,
9 Jonathan Martin and David Carpenter, who will be with us during
10 the course of the trial and you will see them sitting there.
11 Right now I ask you to pay close attention to these
12 preliminary instructions. First, some very preliminary
13 matters. I have excused juror No. 13 who was in seat 4, and
14 juror 153 is now in that seat. You are not to speculate on the
15 reason that I have done that. It has nothing to do with
16 anything you will have to decide. So I emphasize to you, you
17 are simply not to speculate about that.
18 I have also been told that you have asked whether you
19 can disclose your names to each other. Yes, of course, you can
20 disclose your names to each other. But, again, I emphasize, do
21 not disclose them to anyone else here at the courthouse. The
22 people with that information, as I mentioned to you, are the
23 jury administrator's office and the marshals for purposes of
24 transportation.
25 If you have any problem with respect to the
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1 temperature here in the courtroom, please let Mr. Fletcher know
2 and we will attempt to resolve that for you and attempt to make
3 any necessary arrangements. It is not always possible in a
4 large courtroom such as this, but we will try to do whatever we
5 can for you to make things comfortable for you.
6 Ladies and gentlemen, you will decide what the facts
7 are from the evidence that will be presented here in court.
8 That evidence will consist of the testimony of witnesses,
9 documents and other things received into evidence as exhibits,
10 and any facts upon which the lawyers agree or to which they
11 stipulate, or any facts about which I take judicial notice.
12 There are two kinds of evidence, direct and
13 circumstantial. Direct evidence is testimony by a witness
14 about what that witness personally saw or heard or did.
15 Circumstantial evidence is indirect evidence, that is, it is
16 proof of one or more facts from which you can find another
17 fact. You may consider both direct and circumstantial evidence
18 in deciding this case. The law permits you to give equal
19 weight to both or to none, or it is up to you to decide how
20 much weight, if any, to give to any evidence.
21 As the sole judges of the facts you must determine
22 which of the witnesses you believe, what portion of their
23 testimony you accept, and what weight you attach to it. At
24 times during the trial I may sustain objections to questions
25 asked. When that happens I will not permit the witness to
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1 answer or, if the witness has already answered, I shall
2 instruct that the answer be stricken from the record and that
3 you disregard it and dismiss it from your minds.
4 In reaching your decision you may not draw any
5 inference from an unanswered question, nor may you consider
6 testimony that I have ordered stricken from the record. The
7 items I exclude from your consideration will be excluded
8 because they are not legally admissible as evidence.
9 The law requires that your decision be made solely
10 upon the evidence before you. The law does not, however,
11 require you to accept all of the evidence that I do admit.
12 You, as the finders of fact, must make your own evaluation of
13 the testimony given by each of the witnesses and of the
14 documents presented to you, and determine the weight, if any,
15 you choose to give to each witness's testimony or to an
16 exhibit.
17 There is no magical formula by which you should
18 evaluate testimony or exhibits. I will, however, give you some
19 guidelines for determining the credibility of witnesses at the
20 end of the case. At this time, suffice it to say, you bring
21 with you to this courtroom all of the experience and background
22 of your lives. You do not have to leave your common sense
23 outside the courtroom. The same types of tests that you use in
24 your everyday dealings are the tests that you will apply in
25 your deliberations. Please, watch the witnesses very carefully
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1 and listen to everything that is said.
2 You should also understand what is not evidence. As
3 I've explained, the questions and objections of the attorneys
4 are not evidence and neither is the testimony I instruct you to
5 disregard. The statements and arguments of the attorneys
6 during any part of the trial are also not evidence.
7 (Continued on next page)
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1 Further, anything you may see or hear when the court
2 is not in session, even what you see or hear is done or said by
3 one of the parties or by one of the witnesses, is not evidence.
4 Only what is admitted into evidence here when court is in
5 session and all of the parties and jurors are present is
6 competent evidence.
7 Anything you may have heard, seen or read outside the
8 evidence presented here in court is not evidence. You must put
9 aside anything you have seen, heard or read and decide this
10 case based solely on the evidence presented here in court when
11 court is in session and all of the parties and jurors are
12 present.
13 Please remember, this is a criminal case. As I have
14 previously mentioned during your selection, the defendants have
15 been charged with the commission of federal crimes in an
16 indictment filed by a grand jury. An indictment, however, is
17 simply a description of the charges. It is not evidence of
18 anything. The defendants have pleaded not guilty to the
19 charges and deny committing the offenses. The defendants are
20 presumed innocent and the government will have to prove the
21 defendants guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on every element of
22 the charges in the indictment.
23 As I explained, the indictment is not evidence. It is
24 simply a description of the charges. The indictment in this
25 case sets forth a total of seven charges, each of which is
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1 called a count, against the three defendants -- Ahmed Abdel
2 Sattar, Lynne Stewart and Mohammed Yousry. All of the charges
3 relate to another individual named Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman,
4 who is sometimes referred to as the Blind Sheikh.
5 The indictment alleges that Abdel Rahman was viewed as
6 a leader and religious scholar by others who followed and
7 associated with him, including members of an Egypt based group
8 known as al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya or the Islamic Group.
9 In 1995, Abdel Rahman was tried and found guilty of
10 federal crimes. The indictment alleges that defendant Ahmed
11 Abdel Sattar has known Abdel Rahman since before Abdel Rahman
12 was arrested in 1993. The indictment alleges that defendant
13 Lynne Stewart was one of Abdel Rahman's defense attorneys
14 during his 1995 trial and that she continued to act as one of
15 his attorneys after his conviction. The indictment alleges
16 that defendant Mohammed Yousry testified as a defense witness
17 at Abdel Rahman's 1995 criminal trial and starting in or about
18 1997 acted as an Arabic interpreter for communications between
19 Abdel Rahman and his attorneys.
20 The indictment alleges that Abdel Rahman is serving
21 his prison sentence under more restrictive conditions than
22 other prisoners. These conditions, which are known as special
23 administrative measures -- or SAMs for short -- limited certain
24 of Abdel Rahman's privileges in prison, including his access to
25 the mail, the media, the telephone, and visitors.
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1 The charges against the defendants in this case relate
2 to their alleged dealings with Abdel Rahman from 1997 through
3 2002, which was after he was tried, convicted and sentenced and
4 after the SAMs were imposed upon him.
5 Count 1 charges that from in or about June 1997
6 through in or about April 2002, all three defendants conspired
7 with each other and with other people to defraud the United
8 States by impeding and by obstructing, by trickery, deceit and
9 dishonest means, the lawful and legitimate functions of the
10 United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of
11 Prisons in the administration and enforcement of the SAMs
12 imposed on Abdel Rahman.
13 The indictment alleges that as part of this agreement
14 the defendants passed communications between Abdel Rahman and
15 others with whom he was barred from communicating, including
16 the media.
17 Counts 2 and 3 charge only defendant Ahmed Abdel
18 Sattar.
19 Count 2 charges that from in or about September 1999
20 through in or about April 2002, Sattar conspired with Abdel
21 Rahman, and with other people who were not named as defendants
22 in this case, to kill and kidnap people in a foreign country.
23 Count 3 charges that from in or about September 1999
24 through in or about April 2002, Sattar solicited, commanded,
25 induced or otherwise endeavored to persuade other people to
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1 commit crimes of violence.
2 Counts 4 and 5 charge that defendants Lynne Stewart
3 and Mohammed Yousry conspired to and did provide and conceal
4 material support and resources to terrorist activity.
5 Specifically Counts 4 and 5 charge that Stewart and Yousry
6 agreed to and did provide personnel by agreeing to make, and by
7 making, Abdel Rahman available to participate in or to prepare
8 for the conspiracy charged in Count 2, which is the conspiracy
9 to kill and kidnap people in a foreign country.
10 Counts 4 and 5 also charge that Stewart and Yousry
11 agreed to and did conceal and disguise the nature, location and
12 source of personnel by agreeing to conceal and disguise, and by
13 concealing and disguising, that Abdel Rahman was participating
14 in or preparing for the conspiracy charged in Count 2.
15 Counts 4 and 5 allege that Stewart and Yousry acted
16 with the knowledge and intent that such material support and
17 resources were to be used to prepare for and carry out the
18 conspiracy charged in Count 2.
19 Counts 6 and 7 charge only defendant Lynne Stewart
20 with making false statements to the United States Department of
21 Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Specifically Count
22 6 charges that in or about May 2000, Stewart made materially
23 false, fictitious and fraudulent statements and representations
24 and made and used a false writing and document by submitting a
25 written affirmation that falsely stated, among other things,
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1 that she agreed to abide by the terms of the SAMs applicable to
2 Abdel Rahman.
3 Count 7 charges that Stewart committed the same
4 offense by submitting another such written affirmation in or
5 about May 2001.
6 I remind you, as I did in the course of your selection
7 as jurors in this case, this is only a summary of the charges
8 against the defendants. Each of the defendants has pleaded not
9 guilty to the charges and each of the defendants denies
10 committing the offenses. And each of the defendants is
11 presumed to be innocent of all of the charges in the
12 indictment.
13 At the conclusion of the trial, I will give you a
14 detailed description of the charges together with the
15 instructions on the law that you must follow.
16 A preliminary word about your duties and trial
17 procedures.
18 I have already instructed you that the function of the
19 jury is to decide the disputed fact issues in the case.
20 Obviously in order to discharge this duty it is important that
21 you listen carefully to the witnesses as they testify and form
22 no judgment with respect to any witness or the outcome of the
23 case as the trial moves forward. In short, it is important to
24 keep an open mind throughout the entire trial.
25 I also usually suggest that it is equally important to
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1 observe the witnesses as they testify. The reason for this is
2 that the credibility of most witnesses, if not all, will be an
3 issue. You will be called upon to appraise the credibility and
4 the truthfulness of a particular witness' testimony.
5 Oftentimes it is not what a witness says but how the witness
6 says it that may give you a clue as to whether or not to accept
7 the witness' version of an incident or an event as credible or
8 believable.
9 In short, the witness' manner of testifying before
10 you, the witness' appearance -- that is, the witness general
11 demeanor -- is a factor that may play an important part in your
12 reaching a judgment as to whether or not you can accept the
13 witness' testimony as reliable.
14 As the trial proceeds, you may have impressions of a
15 witness or a subject, but you must not allow those impressions
16 to become fixed or hardened because if you do in a sense you
17 foreclose consideration of the testimony of other witnesses or
18 other evidence that may come in subsequent to the witness you
19 heard. This would be unfair to one side or the other. A case
20 can be presented only step by step, witness by witness before
21 the totality of all evidence is before you.
22 We know from experience that frequently we will hear a
23 person give that person's version of an event which sounds most
24 impressive and even compelling and yet when we hear another
25 person's version of the same event, or even the same witness
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1 cross examined with respect to it, what seems so very
2 compelling and impressive may be completely dissipated or
3 weakened.
4 I am simply saying or trying to say to you in very
5 simple terms, remember that usually there may be another side
6 to every story. Think of the old adage there are usually two
7 sides to every story, and remember you will not have heard both
8 sides of any version until all the evidence in the case has
9 been presented. Thus, it is important to keep an open mind
10 throughout the taking of evidence.
11 In order to assure that you continue to keep an open
12 mind you are not -- and the court now instructs you -- to
13 discuss the case among yourselves during the progress of the
14 trial, to discuss the evidence or any aspect of the case, or
15 talk to any of the witnesses in the case or anyone about the
16 case or permit anyone to talk to you about the case. This
17 instruction about not discussing the case with others or
18 permitting others to talk to you about it extends to members of
19 your own family or friends. It remains in effect whether I
20 refer to it again or not.
21 The only time you are permitted to discuss or consider
22 the case is when it is submitted for your final consideration
23 and that is after all the witnesses have been heard and after
24 the lawyers who represent the parties have appeared before you
25 and summed up, as we term it. Giving their views as to what
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1 the evidence supports as to a fact finding and after of course,
2 and also importantly, the court's instructions as to the law.
3 It is only when the case is submitted to you for determination
4 and you go into the jury room that you have the right to
5 discuss or consider the evidence and make your fact
6 determination.
7 If you want to take notes during the course of the
8 trial, you may do so. But you are under absolutely no
9 obligation to take notes. We are keeping an official
10 transcript that you will have the right to review in the course
11 of your deliberations. If you do take notes, be sure that your
12 taking of notes does not interfere with your listening to and
13 considering all of the evidence.
14 Also, if you take notes do not discuss them with
15 anyone before or during your deliberations. Your notes are to
16 be used solely to assist you and are not to substitute for your
17 recollection of the evidence in the case. The fact that a
18 particular juror has taken notes entitles that juror's views to
19 no greater weight than those of any other juror. And your
20 notes are not to be shown to any other juror during the course
21 of deliberations.
22 If you choose not to take notes, remember, you should
23 rely upon your own memory of what has been said. Do not be
24 influenced by the notes of other jurors. Some people remember
25 better when they don't take notes. Just because one juror
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1 takes notes doesn't mean that those notes are a better
2 reflection of what happened in court than your own memory is.
3 If during deliberations you have any doubt as to any of the
4 testimony, you will be permitted to review the official trial
5 transcript that is being made of these proceedings.
6 We will provide all of you with pads and pens so that
7 you will be able to take notes if you choose. When you leave
8 at night, please leave your notes in the jury room. We will
9 provide each of you with a manila envelope in which to place
10 your notes when you leave each evening. We will only
11 distribute the pads and pens after the lawyers give their
12 opening statements because, as I have told you, what the
13 lawyers say is not evidence.
14 The defendants, their attorneys, and the government
15 attorneys are not to speak to jurors or to speak about the case
16 in a juror's presence. Thus, you should understand that if
17 they fail to acknowledge your presence or if they walk away
18 from a place that you are in, they are not being impolite or
19 discourteous. They are simply following the order of the
20 court.
21 Now a word about publicity. There may be some
22 publicity about this case. I am sure you understand from what
23 I have said during the selection of the jury that cases are
24 tried in the courtroom under prescribed rules of procedure and
25 not in the press or on the radio, on television or on the
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1 Internet. You must not be influenced by anything you may have
2 seen or heard outside the courtroom. You are in the best
3 position of anyone to listen to what the witnesses testify to.
4 You will see these witnesses sworn. They will take a solemn
5 oath before you to tell you the truth, the whole truth, and
6 nothing but the truth. You will hear all of their testimony.
7 Certainly there isn't anything that anyone can print, say over
8 the radio or television that would give you more information
9 than what you hear from the lips of the witnesses in this
10 courtroom and such exhibits as come into the case under
11 prescribed rules.
12 Often the news media will print matters which they
13 deem are significant when truly they are not significant. And
14 often a writer will emphasize a point which may even
15 misconstrue the testimony of a key witness, and sometimes in
16 stories about a trial there are even inaccuracies.
17 You are instructed not to read, listen to or watch
18 news reports concerning the case. If you should unavoidably
19 see an item disregard it and put it out of your mind. The fact
20 is that from your seat you are in the best position to hear and
21 see what goes on hear and you can get only the evidence you are
22 entitled to take into account in deciding the fact issues in
23 the case.
24 This instruction too continues throughout the entire
25 trial whether or not I repeat it to you. Please remember that.
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1 Do not do any research on your own about this case or visit any
2 place described during the trial.
3 Finally, if any person should attempt to communicate
4 with you or talk to you about the case it is your duty to
5 report that immediately to me and to no one else. You should
6 report it to me through my deputy, Don Fletcher.
7 As I did yesterday, because of the importance of these
8 instructions, let me summarize them again for you. These
9 instructions will continue to apply throughout the trial even
10 if I do not repeat them.
11 First, do not talk to each other about this case or
12 about anyone who has anything to do with it until the end of
13 the case when you go to the jury room to decide on your
14 verdict.
15 Second, do not talk with anyone else about this case
16 or about anyone who has anything to do with it until the trial
17 has ended and you have been discharged as jurors. "Anyone
18 else" includes members of your family and your friends. You
19 may tell them that you are a juror in a case but please don't
20 tell them anything else about it until after you have been
21 discharged by me.
22 Third, do not let anyone talk to you about the case or
23 about anyone who has anything to do with it. If someone should
24 try to talk to you please report it to me immediately through
25 my deputy clerk, Don Fletcher. You should not, however,
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1 discuss with your fellow jurors either that fact or any other
2 fact that you feel necessary to bring to the attention of the
3 court.
4 Fourth, do not converse, whether in or out of the
5 courtroom, with any of the lawyers, the defendants or the
6 witnesses. By this I mean not only do not talk about the case,
7 I mean do not converse at all, even to pass the time of day. I
8 have instructed all of the lawyers, the defendants, and the
9 witnesses that they are not to speak to you or even acknowledge
10 you with a hello or good morning outside the courtroom.
11 Therefore, do not hold it against them if they ignore you or
12 should leave an area which you are in. They are simply
13 following my instructions. The reason for this rule is very
14 simple. Someone watching from a distance might not hear what
15 is said between an attorney and a juror and even a pleasantry
16 could thereby create a misimpression.
17 Fifth, do not read any news stories or articles or
18 listen to any radio or television reports about the case or
19 about anyone who has anything to do with it. If you should see
20 or hear something inadvertently simply turn away and put it out
21 of your mind.
22 Of course, this refers also to any reports on the
23 Internet. Do not look at any such reports. If you should see
24 or hear something inadvertently, simply turn away and put it
25 out of your mind.
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1 Sixth, do not do any research or any investigation
2 about the case on your own. Do not go to visit any place
3 described during the trial. The reason for these rules is
4 fairly simple. The parties are entitled to have you personally
5 render a verdict in this case on the basis of your independent
6 evaluation of the evidence presented here in the courtroom
7 after your deliberations with the other jurors. Obviously
8 speaking to others, including your family and friends, outside
9 of the deliberation process, or exposing yourself to evidence
10 or information outside the courtroom, would compromise your
11 service and fairness to the parties.
12 Now a word about trial procedure.
13 The trial proper will start with what are called
14 opening statements. The attorneys representing the government
15 and the attorneys representing the defendant will, before any
16 evidence is received, appear before you and make opening
17 statements. This is a sort of framework or reference as to
18 what the case is about, the issues in the case, and the
19 attorneys will set forth what they believe. And I underscore
20 the word "believe" the evidence will show. These statements by
21 the lawyers are made in good faith and on the basis of their
22 preparation for trial. But I must caution you now, and
23 probably will again during the course of the trial, that
24 however helpful these opening statements may be so that we can
25 follow the testimony with reference to the issues in the case,
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1 they are not a substitute for the evidence.
2 The only evidence that you may act upon is that which
3 you will hear from a witness who will be sworn in your
4 presence, take an oath to tell the truth, and following the
5 questioning on direct examination is subject to cross
6 examination, and such documents or exhibits as are admitted in
7 evidence. The totality of the testimony of witnesses, the
8 exhibits and any stipulations that the parties agree upon, or
9 any facts of which I take judicial notice, constitute the
10 evidence upon which you will reach a verdict in the case. So,
11 too, if during the course of the trial a lawyer for either the
12 government or the defense should make any statement with
13 reference to a fact matter or include a fact reference in a
14 question or eventually in the lawyer's summation refers to fact
15 matters, you will bear in mind that statements by the lawyers
16 are not evidence. The sole and only evidence is that to which
17 I have already referred.
18 After the opening statements the government will offer
19 its proof. That is called the government's direct case. Upon
20 the conclusion of the government's case, the defendants may, if
21 they wish, present evidence. I may permit the government to
22 introduce rebuttal evidence.
23 A defendant is not required to make an opening
24 statement or offer any proof. As I have already told you, the
25 defendants have no burden of proof. Each defendant is presumed
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1 to be innocent of the charges. The sole burden of proof is
2 upon the government and to sustain its charges it must do so
3 beyond a reasonable doubt.
4 If a defendant decides not to make an opening
5 statement or offer any proof that is completely up to the
6 defendant and in no respect may this be considered against a
7 defendant.
8 Upon the conclusion of all the testimony, the lawyers
9 will again address you. This is called a summation and each
10 will urge upon you the arguments that the lawyer believed
11 supports whatever position the lawyer advocates. You will, of
12 course, listen attentively to the lawyers. The determination
13 as to whether or not you accept any argument advanced before
14 you by the prosecution or the defense is entirely up to you.
15 You make the fact determination. You may accept such arguments
16 as appeal to you; if not, you reject them.
17 Following the lawyers' summations, the court will
18 instruct you as to the law and it is then that you go into the
19 jury room and undertake your fact-finding function. The
20 ultimate decision in finding the facts, deciding the facts, is
21 yours. This must be based upon the evidence presented before
22 you. Please, please do not make up your mind about what the
23 verdict should be until you have heard all of the evidence, I
24 have instructed you on the law at the end of the case, and you
25 have deliberated with your fellow jurors.
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1 Please keep an open mind until then. All parties
2 deserve -- and the law requires -- that you give them an
3 opportunity to be fully heard.
4 Yesterday I explained the general trial mechanics. We
5 meet from 9:30 until 12:45 and from 2 until 4:30 usually Monday
6 through Thursday. The marshals will arrange for your
7 transportation. I gave you emergency telephone numbers. I
8 remind you again that if you need to call give us only your
9 juror identification number, not your name or address or
10 telephone number. The jury administrator can always contact
11 you and neither I or my staff need your name, address or
12 telephone number, and you should not give it to us.
13 That concludes the preliminary instructions, ladies
14 and gentlemen, and we now turn to the phase of the trial which
15 I explained to you in which the parties are given the
16 opportunity to explain to you what they believe the evidence in
17 the case will show or not show.
18 As I explained to you, the opening statements are not
19 evidence. They are statements by lawyers which you should
20 listen to attentively, but they are not evidence. They are
21 statements by the lawyers about what they expect the evidence
22 to show or not show in this case.
23 Just in terms of timing, it may be that in the course
24 of one or more of the openings it comes a time for us to take a
25 break either in the middle of the morning or in the middle of
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1 the afternoon and I simply alert you to that fact. The lawyers
2 are certainly welcome, if they think that it's an appropriate
3 time for all of us to take a break, to ask for a break in the
4 middle of an opening.
5 We always, ladies and gentlemen, attempt to make
6 things comfortable for you and if at any time in the course of
7 the trial any juror needs a break, please just raise your hand
8 and we will attempt to accommodate that in terms of a break.
9 And I simply alert that to you in view of the fact that we are
10 about to start on the opening statements.
11 The first opening statement will be given on behalf of
12 the government by Mr. Morvillo.
13 Mr. Morvillo.
14 MR. MORVILLO: Your Honor, this may be an ominous way
15 to start, but may we have a brief side bar?
16 THE COURT: No. I am perfectly happy to take a break
17 rather than to take a side bar.
18 MR. MORVILLO: That is what I was going to ask at the
19 side bar, a very brief break.
20 THE COURT: Ladies and gentlemen, I told you that
21 there might be breaks, and this is a convenient time for us to
22 take a break.
23 Ladies and gentlemen, I often -- often, but perhaps
24 not always -- repeat the instructions which are so important to
25 me.
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1 As I told you, the instructions are continuing even if
2 I don't repeat them before every break but they are so
3 important to me that I tend to repeat them a lot.
4 Don't talk about this case at all and remember always
5 to keep an open mind until you have heard all of the evidence,
6 I have instructed you on the law, and you have gone into the
7 jury room to begin your deliberations.
8 Have a good break.
9 All rise please.
10 (Jury left the courtroom)
11 THE COURT: I will see you shortly.
12 (Recess)
13 (Continued on next page)
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1 (In open court; jury not present)
2 THE COURT: Bring in the jury.
3 (Jury present)
4 THE COURT: Ladies and gentlemen, the first opening
5 statement will be given on behalf of the government by Mr.
6 Morvillo.
7 Mr. Morvillo.
8 MR. MORVILLO: Thank you, your Honor.
9 Good morning. May it please the Court, this is Sheikh
10 Omar Abdel Rahman. He is the spiritual leader of a violent
11 international terrorist organization called the Islamic Group.
12 He is serving a life sentence in a federal prison here in the
13 United States, a sentence imposed on him by a federal judge
14 following his conviction for, among other crimes, conspiracy to
15 commit murder, conspiracy to bomb and soliciting others to
16 commit crimes of violence.
17 The evidence in this case will show that Abdel Rahman
18 in fact preaches and solicits violence to accomplish his goals.
19 From prison in the United States Abdel Rahman has instructed
20 his followers to kill Americans. These are his words:
21 Dismember their nation, tear them apart, ruin their economy,
22 provoke their corporations, destroy their embassies, attack
23 their interests, sink their ships, and shoot down their planes.
24 Kill them on land, at sea, and in the air. Kill them wherever
25 you find them. Kill Americans everywhere.
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1 To make sure that Abdel Rahman was completely cut off
2 from his network of terrorist followers and to make sure that
3 Abdel Rahman's days of soliciting and inciting violence were
4 over forever. The United States Government imposed heavy
5 restrictions on his ability to communicate with the world
6 outside his prison cell. In effect, the United States
7 Government locked the door to his cell and threw away the key,
8 or so it thought.
9 Somehow, Abdel Rahman was able to communicate with the
10 leaders of his terrorist network. Somehow, Abdel Rahman was
11 able to pass his instructions, his orders, and his opinions to
12 the leaders of his terrorist network. Somehow, despite the
13 prison restrictions, Abdel Rahman was able to get a message to
14 the leaders of his terrorist group saying that he believed that
15 the time to kill had arrived.
16 That somehow is sitting right here in this courtroom.
17 Let me introduce you to them.
18 This is the defendant Ahmed Abdel Sattar. The
19 evidence will show that Sattar led a double life. By day he
20 was a postal worker. By night he was a terrorist living in a
21 shadowy world, a world where to avoid detection people speak in
22 code and don't use their real names when they speak on the
23 telephone. A world where Abdel Rahman is revered, a world
24 where violence is solicited and terrorist conspiracies are
25 hatched, a world where Sattar can proudly utter the words that
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1 he wants everybody to hear. These are his words: "Kill Jews
2 wherever they are and wherever you find them.
3 The evidence in this case will show that Sattar was a
4 dedicated follower of Sheikh Abdel Rahman. When Abdel Rahman
5 was arrested in 1993, Sattar was right there by his side.
6 Following Abdel Rahman's conviction and life sentence, Sattar,
7 the evidence will show, became a point man in a scheme to
8 smuggle messages into and out of Abdel Rahman's prison cell,
9 messages to and from terrorists who still walk the streets and
10 who were still able to kill and kidnap. As a result, the
11 evidence will show that Sattar was a crucial link between Abdel
12 Rahman and his terrorist network. The evidence will show that
13 through contact with Abdel Rahman and other terrorists, Sattar
14 solicited murder and participated in a terrorist conspiracy to
15 kill and kidnap people.
16 This is the defendant Lynne Stewart. The evidence in
17 this case will show that she served as one of Abdel Rahman's
18 criminal defense attorneys during his 1995 criminal trial. As
19 a result, the evidence will show that Lynne Stewart knew that
20 Abdel Rahman had been convicted of crimes involving violence.
21 The evidence will also show that she knew that he preached and
22 solicited violence. The evidence will also show that she knew
23 that acts of terrorism had been threatened and carried out in
24 Abdel Rahman's name. She also knew that it was for these very
25 reasons that the United States Government had imposed these
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1 prison restrictions in the first place.
2 But knowing all this, she used her status as a lawyer
3 to obtain access to Abdel Rahman under the prison restrictions
4 to help smuggle dangerous messages out of prison. The evidence
5 will show that by engaging in that calculated conduct Stewart
6 supported a terrorist conspiracy and along the way deliberately
7 lied to and defrauded the United States Government.
8 This is the defendant Mohammed Yousry. Mr. Yousry was
9 Abdel Rahman's translator. You will learn that Abdel Rahman
10 speaks primarily Arabic. He is also blind. As a result of
11 those two facts, and because of the prison restrictions, Yousry
12 was one of the only people in the world who could communicate
13 directly with Abdel Rahman. In addition, the evidence will
14 show that Mr. Yousry was an expert in Abdel Rahman and his
15 terrorist group the Islamic Group. He had written articles
16 about them and he had collected hundreds of articles about
17 Abdel Rahman and the Islamic Group. He knew all about them.
18 And though Mohammed Yousry knew all about the prison
19 restrictions, he is the one who read the forbidden messages
20 from other terrorists to Abdel Rahman, and he is the one who
21 took down Abdel Rahman's dictated responses to be passed back
22 to the terrorists overseas. Because of his crucial role, the
23 evidence will show that Yousry enabled Abdel Rahman to continue
24 to control his network of terrorist followers from prison; and
25 in so doing, he supported a terrorist conspiracy and defrauded
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1 the United States Government.
2 These are the defendants. Despite the fact that these
3 defendants all knew that Abdel Rahman had been convicted of
4 crimes of violence, despite the fact that they knew that acts
5 of terrorism had been threatened and carried out in Abdel
6 Rahman's name and despite the fact that they knew all about the
7 prison restrictions, these defendants had an agenda, an agenda
8 that they shared with one another, an agenda that was simple.
9 Abdel Rahman's message was going to get out no matter what, and
10 so it did.
11 Using the pretext of attorney-client visits and
12 telephone calls, these defendants were able to break Abdel
13 Rahman's message of terror out of jail and deliver it to the
14 very people who never should have heard it, other terrorists
15 who still walk the streets and were still able to follow his
16 instructions. In the process these defendants broke the law.
17 In fact, they broke several laws.
18 First, these defendants, all three of them, broke the
19 law by participating in a conspiracy, a criminal agreement to
20 defraud the United States Government, by engaging in conduct
21 that violated the prison restrictions; second, Sattar, the
22 evidence will show, participated along with Abdel Rahman and
23 others in a conspiracy to kill and kidnap people in another
24 country, and Stewart and Yousry supported that conspiracy by
25 making the otherwise inaccessible Abdel Rahman available to
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1 participate as a member of that conspiracy to kill and kidnap
2 people in a foreign country.
3 Third, Sattar broke the law by soliciting others to
4 commit crimes of violence. Kill the Jews wherever they are and
5 wherever you find them is just a part of that crime.
6 Fourth, Stewart deliberately lied to the United States
7 Government when she twice falsely stated in writing under oath
8 that she would comply with the prison restrictions in place on
9 Abdel Rahman.
10 What are the facts? Well, there are a lot of them
11 here and I am going to take some time to walk you through them.
12 Before I turn to the specific evidence, let me just
13 say this. The purpose of an opening statement is not to tell
14 you what the evidence is. The witnesses will do that and the
15 exhibits will do that. Nor is the purpose of an opening
16 statement for me to try to imprint on you, on your minds, every
17 important fact. If we tried to do that, we would be here for
18 an awfully long time. An opening statement is sort of like
19 getting someone ready for a trip that they have never taken
20 before. You try to get them oriented to certain terms and
21 signs in the road so as they actually take the trip, they
22 understand where they are going and where they have been. In
23 that way my purpose here today is to give you a preview of what
24 the government expects the government will show in an effort to
25 provide you with landmarks and signposts to help you understand
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1 the journey you are about to take.
2 I am going to mention a lot of names and dates and
3 words and places, and during the trial you will even hear more.
4 Please don't worry about that. What might seem quite strange
5 to you right now, I assure you, will seem quite familiar.
6 Let me tell you what I am going to do. This opening
7 statement is broken down into five parts. The good news is
8 that I've already finished the first part. Next I am going to
9 very briefly tell you what this case is about, a very quick
10 overview, the evidence in a nutshell. Then I am going to walk
11 you through in more details some of the relevant facts and
12 events. After that, I am going to spend a few minutes telling
13 you how we, the government, are going to prove these facts and
14 events to you. Finally, I am going to make a few final remarks
15 and conclude.
16 What is this case about? Quite simply, this is a case
17 about a jail break. Not your typical jail break where a
18 prisoner is freed to once again walk the streets. It is a
19 different type of jail break but one that the evidence will
20 show was equally as dangerous.
21 As I mentioned at the outset, Abdel Rahman was in jail
22 for conspiring to commit murder, for soliciting crimes of
23 violence, and for conspiring to bomb, among other crimes. He
24 was also the leader of a foreign terrorist organization called
25 the Islamic Group. The evidence will show that his role in the
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1 group was to make decisions, to give orders and approvals on
2 Islamic Group policy, and when and whether to carry out
3 terrorist operations. The evidence will show that he set the
4 agenda, that he gave the approvals, and that he was in control.
5 Thus, the evidence will show that it was his
6 directions and commands and his access to information that made
7 him dangerous, that made him a threat to innocent lives. The
8 evidence will show that his words and speeches were as
9 dangerous as weapons because of the effect that they had on his
10 followers. Stopping him from communicating with his group is
11 the only sure way to eliminate the threat that he posed. And
12 that is what the special prison restrictions were intended to
13 do. These defendants allowed Abdel Rahman to communicate with
14 his network of terrorist followers. To allow that to happen,
15 these defendants provided Abdel Rahman with a secret,
16 underground communications channel to get around the special
17 prison restrictions. The evidence will show that these
18 defendants were the ones who pulled off the jail break. They
19 were the ones who broke Abdel Rahman's message out of jail.
20 What were those messages? There were many. But all
21 the secret messages back and forth between Abdel Rahman and his
22 terrorist network culminate in the spring of 2000, when a
23 public announcement is made by Abdel Rahman, courtesy of these
24 defendants, saying that Abdel Rahman no longer supported a
25 cease fire by this terrorist organization, the cessation of
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1 terrorist violence between his organization and the Egyptian
2 government. In essence, these defendants helped Abdel Rahman
3 break out of jail to inspire his terrorist group to return to
4 terrorism. They allowed Abdel Rahman to tell his followers,
5 "Fire." That is what this case is about. And now I am going
6 to tell you how they did it.
7 To help me help you understand the facts of this case,
8 the chain of lengths that led us all here, I have prepared a
9 very general time line to get you oriented which, if the
10 technology is working right, should be displayed in the
11 monitors in front of you and on the screen behind you.
12 Fortunately, it is.
13 Let's start at the beginning. Abdel Rahman. Who is
14 Sheikh Abdel Rahman? He is sometimes referred to as the Blind
15 Sheikh. You know just about all you need to know about him
16 already. He is the leader of an international terrorist
17 organization serving a life sentence in a federal prison for
18 conspiring to commit and soliciting others to commit crimes of
19 violence. You see on the time line in October of 1995, Abdel
20 Rahman was convicted. He was sentenced in January of 1996.
21 Abdel Rahman was a man that the United States
22 Government believed was so dangerous it tried to cut him off
23 from the outside world. You will learn that Abdel Rahman is an
24 extremely radical Islamic cleric. You will learn that Abdel
25 Rahman issued religious orders, what are called fatwahs, urging
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1 Jihad, which literally means struggle but, as used by Abdel
2 Rahman and his followers means holy war.
3 Given the facts that I have just laid out for you, it
4 should come as no surprise that the United States Government
5 was extremely concerned about Abdel Rahman's ability to
6 continue to solicit and incite violence from jail.
7 In an attempt to prevent Abdel Rahman from committing
8 crimes like those for which he was convicted, you will learn
9 that beginning in April of 1997, the United States Government
10 imposed what are known as special administrative measures, or
11 SAMs for short. These are the prison restrictions that I
12 mentioned to you earlier. These restrictions are the ones, the
13 evidence will show, that these defendants conspired to evade.
14 As a result, you will hear a lot about the special
15 administrative measures during the course of this trial. The
16 SAMs stated purpose is simple but critically important: To
17 protect persons against the risk of death or serious bodily
18 injury that could otherwise result if Abdel Rahman were free to
19 communicate, send or receive terrorist information.
20 Among other things, the SAMs allowed Abdel Rahman to
21 call only his wife -- those calls were monitored -- and his
22 attorneys. His nonlegal mail was screened by federal
23 authorities. He was prohibited from communicating with any
24 member of the media. And the attorneys were required to sign
25 what are called affirmation agreements before being allowed
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1 access to him. The affirmations required: First, that the
2 attorneys and their staff would fully abide by the SAMs before
3 being allowed access to Abdel Rahman; second, that they would
4 only be accompanied by translators for the purpose of
5 communicating with inmate Abdel Rahman concerning legal
6 matters; and, third, that they agree not to use their meetings,
7 their correspondence, their phone calls, with Abdel Rahman to
8 pass messages between third parties, including the media and
9 Abdel Rahman. The evidence will show that Lynne Stewart signed
10 several of these affirmations and then proceeded to completely
11 disregard them.
12 The Islamic Group. Let's talk for a minute about the
13 Islamic Group. That group is important to this case. As I
14 have told you, Abdel Rahman was their spiritual leader, or
15 emir. The Islamic Group has long been a foreign terrorist
16 organization specifically designated by the United States
17 Government, a fact that was known by each of these defendants.
18 You will learn that by 1997 many of the Islamic
19 members and leaders were in jail in Egypt. The group was weak.
20 Many senior leaders of the organization had fled Egypt to avoid
21 arrest. You will learn that in mid 1997, the Islamic Group in
22 jail called for a unilateral cease fire, a tactical move by the
23 group to try to convince the government of Egypt to let them
24 out of jail. You will see it indicated here on the time line
25 in the summer of 1997.
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1 You will learn that in the summer of 1997, after it
2 was called for by the Islamic Group in jail, Abdel Rahman, even
3 though subject to special administrative measures at the time,
4 was able to get a message out of prison saying that he
5 supported the cease fire. You will also learn, however, that
6 Abdel Rahman had not abandoned his terrorist roots and become a
7 man of peace. That fact will become crystal clear as the
8 evidence in this case unfolds. You also learn that not all of
9 the group's leaders and members supported the cease fire.
10 Let's move to November of 1997. It is November 17,
11 1997. It is the morning. The scene is one of Egypt's most
12 popular tourist attractions, the magnificent archeological
13 ruins in the City of Luxor. Tour buses pull in and out of the
14 site. Tourists are milling about, snapping photographs and
15 soaking up the ancient history. In a heartbeat the serenity of
16 this moment is shattered by the sounds of gun fire and
17 screaming. Seemingly out of nowhere guns have appeared and
18 have begun indiscriminately shooting tourists. Tourists are
19 running everywhere trying to escape the carnage, some huddling
20 together near the entrance of the temple, and with nowhere to
21 run are massacred. A guard is shot in the head, a fleeing
22 woman is shot from behind, a man pleads with one of the
23 attackers, kill me and not my wife.
24 In the end, dozens of tourists are dead. It was a
25 brutal act of cold-blooded murder. The evidence will show that
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1 these defendants were aware of the fact that this massacre was
2 conducted by members of the Islamic Group and, further, that
3 the terrorist who carried out this attack did so in an effort
4 to free Abdel Rahman from prison in the United States. In
5 other words, the evidence will show that these defendants knew
6 that Abdel Rahman inspired terrorism.
7 You will also learn that one of the most senior
8 leaders of the Islamic Group wrote a book in which he attempted
9 to justify the killing of tourists in Egypt, a book in which he
10 referred to the terrorists who carried out the Luxor massacre
11 as martyrs, a book that he dedicated to Sheikh Abdel Rahman.
12 His name is Rifa'i Ahmad Taha Musa, or Taha for short. He also
13 goes by the alias Abu Yasir. You will hear a lot about this
14 terrorist during the course of this trial. He was a friend of
15 Sattar's. In fact, you will learn that Sattar had Taha's book.
16 Let me give you what the evidence will show about
17 Taha. The evidence will show that he is a ruthless terrorist
18 leader. He is one of the most senior leaders of the Islamic
19 Group. He is on the Shura Council of the Islamic Group, which
20 is sort of like the terrorist organization's board of
21 directors.
22 The evidence will show that at the time of the events
23 in this case Taha was living in Afghanistan with Osama Bin
24 Laden and Osama Bin Laden's terrorist group, Al-Qaida. The
25 evidence will show that Taha believes that Americans should be
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1 murdered. The evidence will show, in fact, that in February of
2 1998, an event depicted on the time line, that there was a
3 fatwah issued by Osama Bin Laden that called on "every Muslim
4 who believes in God and desires to be rewarded to follow God's
5 order to kill Americans and plunder their wealth wherever and
6 whenever they find it.
7 Taha also believes that Jewish people should be
8 killed. In fact, he coauthored the kill the Jews fatwah with
9 Sattar that I mentioned earlier. The evidence will show that
10 Taha was one of the moat militant leaders of the Islamic Group.
11 You will also learn that Taha absolutely opposed the cease
12 fire. He wanted the Islamic Group to continue in its terrorist
13 traditions, killing innocent people to accomplish its goals.
14 As long as a cease fire was in place and Abdel Rahman was
15 supporting it, Taha was in the minority. His murderous hands
16 were tied.
17 This is where the defendants come in. They were his
18 only link to Abdel Rahman. Taha needed access to Abdel Rahman
19 to convince him to end his support for the cease fire. And
20 these defendants, the evidence will show, did not disappoint.
21 You will learn that Sattar, Stewart, and Yousry repeatedly
22 shuttled secret messages between Taha and Abdel Rahman,
23 messages that led Abdel Rahman to end his support for the cease
24 fire, messages that handed Taha the momentum that he needed to
25 return the Islamic Group to the spilling of blood, messages
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1 that never would have been passed between these two terrorists
2 without the criminal determination of Sattar, Stewart, and
3 Yousry, who the evidence will establish knew exactly what they
4 were doing.
5 Let's talk about the message pipeline created by these
6 defendants in early March of 1999, the last event on this time
7 line. The defendants Stewart, and Yousry met with Abdel Rahman
8 in a federal prison in Rochester, Minnesota. What happened
9 during this meeting? Well, the defendants, all three of them,
10 pass along a message from Islamic group members to Abdel Rahman
11 asking his permission to form an Islamic Group political party
12 in Egypt. How? Sattar got the messages from overseas to
13 Yousry. Yousry in prison, Yousry presented it back to Sattar,
14 Abdel Rahman responded. Yousry presented it back to Sattar and
15 Sattar disseminated it overseas, a clear violation of the law.
16 What was Abdel Rahman's view on an Islamic Group
17 political party? He flatly rejected the idea. In other words,
18 we will prove to you that Abdel Rahman from prison and while
19 subject to the SAMs, with the assistance of these defendants,
20 directed the Islamic Group to remain outside the law, to remain
21 a terrorist organization. During this same meeting Abdel
22 Rahman also responded to a request, one brought into the prison
23 by Yousry and Stewart from Taha asking Abdel Rahman to end the
24 cease fire. Abdel Rahman stated in his response to Taha:
25 "they, the Islamic Group prisoners in Egypt, are calling for
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1 stopping the violence, and you, Taha, do not agree."
2 Exercising his leadership skills, Abdel Rahman
3 responded that Taha should give the leaders in prison some more
4 time, the ones who had proposed the cease fire. He said, maybe
5 the government of Egypt promised them something that we are not
6 aware of. But he concluded his message to Taha from prison
7 under SAMs by saying: "No new agreement or charter and nothing
8 should be done without my consultation or without my
9 knowledge."
10 There you have it. The evidence will show that Abdel
11 Rahman was giving orders to his terrorist followers from a
12 federal prison in the United States courtesy of these
13 defendants under SAMs, under prison restrictions designed to
14 prevent exactly that conduct.
15 Unfortunately, it did not stop there. In September of
16 1999, there is a new section of the time line that just flashed
17 up on your screens here. The press reported that four Islamic
18 Group members were killed during a shootout with Egyptian
19 authorities. This incident outraged Sattar and Taha. Sattar,
20 who had up to this point been a moderate supporter of the cease
21 fire, now wanted the cease fire to end. Sattar joined Taha.
22 They wanted revenge, they wanted action. And to achieve those
23 ends they needed something else that was extremely important to
24 them. They needed Abdel Rahman's support.
25
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1 And, as the evidence will show, they succeeded. How?
2 Well, shortly after these articles appear, the ones about the
3 deaths of the four Islamic Group members, the defendant Yousry
4 and a different lawyer for Abdel Rahman, not Lynne Stewart,
5 visited Abdel Rahman in prison again in Rochester. During this
6 visit Yousry read Abdel Rahman news reports about the shooting,
7 the same one that had so enraged Sattar and Taha. Abdel Rahman
8 was angered by these reports as well. So angry, in fact, that
9 he dictated a statement to Yousry -- yet another clear-cut
10 violation of the law.
11 You will see that statement here in evidence. In that
12 statement, which Yousry passed onto Sattar, and Sattar passed
13 onto Taha, Abdel Rahman demanded that the Islamic Group review
14 the cease-fire and, further, and more importantly, stated that
15 they should consider themselves free from it. It no longer
16 applied.
17 That was precisely what Sattar and Taha wanted --
18 Abdel Rahman's support. Sattar and Taha, you will learn,
19 discussed how to release a statement to the media so the entire
20 Islamic Group could hear that their leader had told the Islamic
21 Group that it was free to return to violence. They agreed that
22 it was safer to do so through the lawyers. But in stark
23 contrast to what Lynne Stewart would do in June of 2000, the
24 evidence will show that the lawyer who went on this visit
25 refused to authorize the release of Abdel Rahman's call to end
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1 the cease-fire to the press. Why? The evidence will show that
2 the lawyer knew that releasing Abdel Rahman's statement to the
3 press would have constituted a clear and obvious violation of
4 the SAMs.
5 The evidence will show that that lawyer, like Stewart,
6 had agreed in writing that he would not do such things.
7 The evidence will show that releasing a statement like that
8 from Abdel Rahman was illegal.
9 Now, Sattar and Taha were in a bind. How could the
10 sheikh's message, his green light for terrorist operations,
11 best be communicated to terrorists? They needed a press
12 release. And the evidence will show that that was exactly what
13 Lynne Stewart was about to give them. The next prison visit to
14 Abdel Rahman was in February of 2000. Before this visit Taha
15 asked Sattar to have a message, something he called a poetry
16 line, conveyed to Abdel Rahman during the next visit. This
17 time, however, Yousry was accompanied by a third Abdel Rahman
18 attorney. And, as you will learn, Abdel Rahman didn't
19 completely trust this lawyer. And because this lawyer spoke
20 some Arabic, when he was out of the room Abdel Rahman told
21 Yousry that he was not comfortable writing in the presence of
22 this lawyer. Thus, Abdel Rahman did not dictate during this
23 visit any statements.
24 Following the visit, however, the evidence will show
25 that Sattar spoke to a senior leader of the Islamic Group
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1 overseas and relayed what happened during the visit. Sattar
2 explained that there had been complications due to the fact
3 that the attorney who went on the visit would not allow Yousry
4 to read the letter to Abdel Rahman for fear that they would get
5 caught and lose everything.
6 Sattar told this Islamic Group leader that this lawyer
7 said that he would not allow messages to be passed because he
8 had signed an agreement saying that he wouldn't do such things.
9 The exact same agreement that, the evidence will show, Lynne
10 Stewart signed.
11 Sattar stated to this Islamic Group leader that he was
12 mad at this other lawyer. And he didn't intend to send him on
13 the next visit -- Sattar controlling the legal team.
14 Sattar stated that Abdel Rahman's other lawyers allowed
15 messages to be passed during prison visits. Specifically you
16 will learn that Sattar told that Islamic Group leader "they
17 tell you" -- referring to the lawyers -- "say what you want, do
18 what you want and write what you want. They even go out from
19 his place and hold press conferences and talk."
20 And so with the failed February visit behind them,
21 Sattar began making plans for another prison visit. His plans
22 included his sure thing -- Lynne Stewart. Sattar knew that
23 Stewart would get the necessary messages to Abdel Rahman and
24 that she would talk to the media. That visit happened in May
25 of 2000. On May 16, 2000, Lynne Stewart signed an affirmation
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1 under penalty of perjury saying that she would not use her
2 visits and contact with Abdel Rahman to pass messages between
3 Abdel Rahman and third parties, including the media. She also
4 agreed to only use interpreters -- Yousry -- to communicate
5 with Abdel Rahman concerning legal matters. A mere three days
6 later, on May 19, 2000, Lynne Stewart broke her sworn agreement
7 with the government, and in the process she broke the law.
8 The evidence will show that Stewart and Yousry worked
9 together during this visit to pass messages to and from Abdel
10 Rahman, messages that the evidence will show had absolutely
11 nothing to do with legal matters.
12 Let me just pause here for a second.
13 There is absolutely no dispute that Lynne Stewart is a
14 lawyer and that she was Abdel Rahman's lawyer. Indeed, the
15 fact that Lynne Stewart is a lawyer is particularly relevant
16 though to this case. Why? Several reasons.
17 One, as a result of being Abdel Rahman's lawyer
18 Stewart knew all about Abdel Rahman's criminal history. She
19 sat through his criminal trial. She watched as he was
20 convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
21 Second, you will learn that Stewart actually used her
22 status as a lawyer to commit the crimes charged in the
23 indictment. She used her status as a lawyer to have access to
24 Abdel Rahman. She used her status as a lawyer as a cloak to
25 smuggle messages into and out of prison. In short, she used
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1 her status as a lawyer to Abdel Rahman to allow him to incite
2 terrorism. And that, the evidence will show, is against the
3 law for anyone to do -- lawyer, doctor, priest, postal
4 worker -- anyone. Other than that Stewart's status as a lawyer
5 is irrelevant to this case.
6 Now, back to the May 2000 visit.
7 One of the first things that happens during this visit
8 is that Yousry told Abdel Rahman about a kidnapping that
9 happened in the Philippines by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group.
10 Yousry told Abdel Rahman that the terrorists in the Philippines
11 had demanded his release from prison in exchange for their
12 hostages. And then the evidence will show that Yousry told
13 Stewart about the kidnapping and the demand for Abdel Rahman's
14 release. And in what can only amount to a snapshot of Lynne
15 Stewart's intent and her perspective, Stewart said, "good for
16 them."
17 The evidence will show that what Lynne Stewart was
18 saying was good for the Abu Sayyaf terrorists, good for them
19 for taking hostages, good for them for demanding the release of
20 Abdel Rahman -- good for them.
21 The prison visit continued. A short while later Abdel
22 Rahman asked Stewart, through Yousry, what the future held for
23 his case. Stewart referred to the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping. She
24 told Abdel Rahman that although what had happened in the
25 Philippines was unlikely to get him out of jail, it kept his
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1 name alive as a hero of the jihad warriors and that that "was
2 very, very crucial."
3 In other words, the evidence will show that Lynne
4 Stewart's message to Abdel Rahman was terrorism carried out in
5 your name is good for your case. Later, during that day's
6 visit, Yousry read Abdel Rahman's statement, written by Taha,
7 that had appeared in an Arabic newspaper. While Yousry was
8 reading this article to Abdel Rahman he noticed that the guards
9 outside the prison meeting room had started to come close to
10 the window. Realizing that what he was doing was in violation
11 of the SAMs, Yousry asked Stewart to act like she was involved
12 in their conversation. What did Stewart do? She starts
13 acting. She began to pretend that she was conducting legal
14 business with Abdel Rahman.
15 This fact is made perfectly clear by the evidence that
16 you will see. How? Well, the evidence will show that at one
17 point Stewart actually commented that she could get an award in
18 acting for her performance in covering up the illicit
19 conversation that Sattar was having with Abdel Rahman right
20 there in the prison.
21 And then comes the most crucial part of the visit.
22 The evidence will show that Lynne Stewart pointed to a letter
23 from Sattar to Abdel Rahman and told Yousry to read it. Abdel
24 Rahman, she told him, needed to think about it overnight before
25 the next day's visit. As Yousry was reading this letter to
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1 Abdel Rahman, he suddenly stopped and told Stewart that the
2 guards were coming close again. And he needed her to talk.
3 Stewart then tapped on the letter with her pen and said,
4 referring to the guard, "If he finds out what this is, then we
5 are" -- and Yousry finished her sentence -- "in trouble."
6 Stewart responded, "Yeah, that's right." And then they
7 laughed. They laughed at how they were breaking the law.
8 Yousry continued reading Sattar's letter. Stewart stopped him
9 from time to time to continue the charade that they were
10 conducting legal business. Then Yousry read Abdel Rahman the
11 crucial part, the message in Sattar's letter from Taha in which
12 Taha asked Abdel Rahman to have a more forceful position to
13 approve a call for the cancellation of the cease-fire and to
14 make threats and to escalate the situation in Egypt. Sattar
15 through this letter implored Abdel Rahman "Please, your
16 eminence, say your opinion about this, dictate some points that
17 we can announce in a press conference with Lynne. If you don't
18 want to announce it" -- and there is an unintelligible --
19 "please let Lynne know that."
20 Lynne of course is Lynne Stewart.
21 The next day, May 20, 2000, Stewart and Yousry return
22 to the prison for a second day of visits. During this day
23 while Stewart continued her acting performance, Abdel Rahman
24 dictated many letters to Yousry, all of which were violations
25 of the law. One of those letters was a response to Taha. What
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1 was that response? Well, during the visit Abdel Rahman
2 dictated his opinion to Yousry and although Abdel Rahman's
3 words and thoughts on the subject were scattered throughout the
4 visit, Yousry and Stewart distilled it to a simple fact. What
5 was that fact? On June 13, 2000, in what amounted to yet
6 another clear violation of her agreement with the United States
7 not to pass messages between third parties and Abdel Rahman,
8 Stewart announced Abdel Rahman's position to the world. On
9 that day Stewart issued a statement to the press in which she
10 stated "Abdel Rahman is withdrawing his support for the
11 cease-fire that currently exists." In other words, Stewart
12 told the world that Abdel Rahman supported a return to
13 violence.
14 Now, in her announcement Stewart did not say expressly
15 "Abdel Rahman orders you to resume killing people." That is
16 not necessary. His words were clear. And with the
17 announcement Taha and Sattar obtain what they had long
18 wanted -- courtesy of Lynne Stewart and Mohammed Yousry --
19 Abdel Rahman's public pronouncement that he no longer supported
20 the cease-fire.
21 Taha and Sattar now had the backing that they needed
22 to go out and resume terrorism.
23 The evidence will show that Lynne Stewart knew that
24 what she had done was wrong. How can we prove that? She said
25 as much. The next day, the day after she issues her press
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1 release, Lynne Stewart calls Sattar at home. He was out.
2 Stewart spoke with Sattar's wife. During this call Sattar's
3 wife told Stewart that her press release was the top story in
4 the Middle East. Stewart responded by saying, "oh, brother."
5 Stewart told Sattar's wife that she didn't think that she would
6 be able to hide her conduct from the government and, as you
7 know, she was right. Sattar's wife asked Stewart if she was
8 going to get in trouble and Stewart replied "Probably. We will
9 deal with that too. Maybe it's the right thing. Then we can
10 fight the sheikh's fight on that ground too, you know."
11 In sum, Stewart knew that the release of Abdel
12 Rahman's statement was illegal. Why? Because it was a call
13 for violence by the leader of a terrorist organization. It was
14 also a major victory for Sattar and Taha. Sattar and Taha were
15 now emboldened by Abdel Rahman's decision to end his support
16 for the cease-fire. But they had a problem. Taha was in
17 Afghanistan. Sattar was in New York City. They needed someone
18 on the ground in Egypt to do their bidding. That someone is
19 named Atia.
20 He was, the evidence will show, the military leader of
21 the Islamic Group in Egypt. Beginning in September of 2000
22 there are a series of telephone calls between Taha, Sattar,
23 Atia, and people associated with Atia. These calls are
24 critical. They provide a clear insight into Sattar and Taha's
25 evil designs. You will learn that the participants in these
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1 calls are highly suspicious of government monitoring of their
2 telephone. They talk in code. They talk vaguely, but the
3 message that is conveyed back and forth is clear as a bell.
4 You will learn that Taha, inspired by Abdel Rahman's support,
5 told Atia that the only barrier to performing an act of
6 terrorism was the Group's capability. No cease-fire --
7 capability.
8 You will also learn that Atia told Taha and Sattar
9 that he had "big surprises" in store and that he "hoped that
10 our brothers will help us to surprise our enemy with a fatal
11 attack."
12 You will hear that Atia wanted Sattar and Taha to know
13 that he, Atia, and his people, had credentials. They were
14 involved, he told them, in numerous terrorist operations,
15 including the attack at Luxor that I described to you a few
16 moments ago.
17 You will learn that Sattar and Taha both knew that
18 Atia was the military leader of the Islamic Group in Egypt.
19 And they wanted to assess his capabilities to commit a
20 terrorist attack. No amount of careful talking can conceal
21 that fact.
22 What else happened in September 2000? Well, you will
23 learn that on September 21, 2000, on an Arabic television
24 station, a speech by Osama Bin Laden and Taha sitting together
25 under a banner entitled Convention To Support Honorable Omar
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1 Abdel Rahman, during the speech the participants pledged to
2 free Abdel Rahman from prison. They talked about the necessity
3 of doing it. During the meeting Mohammed Abdel Rahman, a son
4 of Sheikh Abdel Rahman, was heard encouraging others to "avenge
5 your sheikh" and "go to the spilling of blood."
6 You will see a copy of that video here in court and
7 you will hear that Taha and Sattar discuss the speeches over
8 the phone. In fact, Taha, you will learn, called Sattar as
9 Sattar was watching Taha on television making the speech. You
10 will also hear that Mohammed Abdel Rahman, the sheikh's son,
11 called Sattar to talk about the speech. Still more evidence
12 that Abdel Rahman inspires terrorists and the spilling of
13 blood, even while in jail supposedly cut off from the outside
14 world.
15 And then Taha and Sattar took a giant leap towards
16 terrorist violence. Right in the middle of their ongoing
17 contact with Atia and just two weeks after the Bin Laden-Taha
18 video aired, Taha and Sattar agreed together to issue a lethal
19 fatwah -- and Islamic edict -- in Abdel Rahman's name.
20 The evidence will show at Sattar's direction Taha
21 drafted a fatwah and e-mailed it to Sattar. Sattar edited the
22 fatwah and then sent it to an associate in London who
23 distributed the fatwah to the press. I mentioned this fatwah
24 to you at the beginning when I introduced Sattar to you. This
25 is one of the clearest examples of Sattar's perspective and
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1 intent. In this fatwah, which the evidence will show Sattar
2 and Taha issued under Abdel Rahman's name because they knew
3 that Abdel Rahman inspired terrorism, Sattar and Taha called on
4 Muslims everywhere to "fight the Jews and kill them wherever
5 they are and wherever they are found." The fatwah also
6 directed Muslims to attack Jews and, in a clear reference to
7 the United States, also urged attacks on those who support the
8 Jews.
9 The evidence will clearly demonstrate that Sattar and
10 Taha wanted this fatwah to be executed. They wanted Jewish
11 people and Americans to die. Yousry told Abdel Rahman about
12 the fatwah during an attorney telephone call and Abdel Rahman
13 endorsed it. Then Yousry told Stewart about the fatwah and
14 Abdel Rahman's reaction to it. Stewart told Yousry if the
15 Sheikh didn't issue it but he wanted to adopt it, then "she was
16 for it too."
17 During this call Yousry told Stewart that one of Abdel
18 Rahman's other lawyers was very worried about the fatwah. In
19 response Stewart says to Yousry "Does he really think that the
20 American government can completely put this man in an iron box
21 and cut him off from the whole world?" Stewart later told
22 Yousry during the same conversation that she had a different
23 position on this issue and that her position was that Abdel
24 Rahman "is going to get his message out no matter what." Her
25 words, no interpretation necessary.
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1 Now, despite her sworn agreement, despite the law, she
2 was going to get the sheikh's message of hate and terror out to
3 the world no matter what. The very day after the fatwah was
4 published Sattar read a newspaper article to Taha. That
5 article identified Atia as the leader of the Islamic Group
6 military wing in Egypt.
7 Taha commented that the writer of that article had
8 really good information. Three days later Taha called Sattar
9 and told Sattar that he should contact Atia and tell them about
10 the fatwah, the one demanding the murder of the Jews, and,
11 further, to tell them that they are to go by it. And what did
12 Sattar say? He agreed. In other words, unequivocal, explicit
13 evidence will demonstrate that Taha and Sattar agreed that
14 Sattar would instruct the person that they both knew to be the
15 military leader of the Islamic Group to kill people. And that
16 is exactly what Sattar did. Sattar passed on these deadly
17 instructions in early October 2000.
18 Now, October was a busy time for Sattar and Taha and
19 Atia. Phone calls were exchanged on a daily basis. And then
20 on October 19, 2000 Sattar got the news, Atia was in the
21 hospital. The evidence will show that is a code word for
22 prison. Or, he was told, perhaps something worse happened. As
23 it turns out, you will learn that Atia was dead. He had been
24 killed during a shootout with Egyptian authorities on October
25 18, 2000. Atia's death triggered numerous phone calls and
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1 accusations against Sattar and Taha by other members of the
2 Islamic Group. Sattar and Taha were blamed for Atia's death,
3 blamed because they were not careful on the telephone; blamed
4 because it was believed that Sattar and Taha were pressuring
5 Atia to conduct a terrorist operation.
6 Taha and Sattar had a lengthy conversation about what
7 led to Atia's death. They discussed how such mistakes could be
8 avoided in the future. And they talked about Atia. They
9 referred to him as a martyr.
10 Is Atia's death the end? Nope. What else happened in
11 October 2000? Well, you know Taha and Bin Laden appeared on TV
12 together and urged jihad to free Abdel Rahman. Taha and Sattar
13 had written and published the fatwah in Abdel Rahman's name to
14 murder Jewish people and all the phone calls back and forth
15 between Sattar, Taha and Atia -- well, something else happened
16 in October 2000 that is important to this case. In mid-October
17 the press reported that on October 12, 2000, in the Middle
18 Eastern country of Yemen, an American Navy destroyer called the
19 USS COLE was bombed and sailors were killed and injured.
20 How did this affect Taha and Sattar? They saw these reports as
21 an opportunity, an opportunity to try to spring Abdel Rahman
22 from prison.
23 In a telephone call several days after the reports of
24 the bombing -- a call that occurred over someone else's cell
25 phone because of Sattar and Taha's fear of surveillance -- Taha
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1 told Sattar that the bombing of the Cole "was not far from us."
2 And that he wanted to convey a threat to the United States
3 government that "the problems are related to the man that they
4 are holding -- Abdel Rahman. If his conditions are
5 straightened out, it will follow that other things will get
6 straightened out also." They were talking about Abdel Rahman.
7 And these facts take on particular import in the next prison
8 visit to Abdel Rahman, which was in July of 2001.
9 In May of 2001, after months of negotiations with the
10 government, Lynne Stewart signed a new affirmation in which she
11 agreed once again to abide by the SAMs, in which she agreed
12 once again not to pass messages between Abdel Rahman and third
13 parties, in which she agreed once again to use interpreters for
14 legal matters. This time she specifically stated in the
15 agreement "I understand that Abdel Rahman has been convicted of
16 terrorism offenses, including soliciting crimes of violence,
17 and that terrorist actions have been carried out by persons
18 using his name, including the killing of approximately 60
19 tourists in Luxor, Egypt in November of 1997 and the kidnapping
20 of tourists in the Philippines in the spring of 2000. I
21 understand that the United States is concerned that a violation
22 of the SAMs, including but not limited to dissemination of
23 messages on behalf of Abdel Rahman, can lead to violence to
24 persons or property here in the United States or overseas."
25 Then in July of 2001, the first prison visit to Abdel Rahman
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1 since May of 2000, since Stewart released his statement to the
2 media, Stewart broke her sworn agreement again along with
3 Yousry. During this visit Yousry and Stewart decided to tell
4 Abdel Rahman about the Cole bombing and the call t