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March 8, 2006

US: Lodi Trials Of "Islamist" Father And Son Are Underway

We reported in late November on the background to the trial of 48-year old Umer Hayat (pictured), who is on trial with his 23 year old son, Hamid, Both are charged with lying to federal investigators. The "lies" involve statements made to FBI agent Pedro Tenoch Aguilar on 3rd and 4th June, 2005, when he was asking them about Hamid's attending terror training camps in Pakistan.

Hamid initially denied being part of any such set-up, but a polygraph indicated he was lying. He then confessed that he had attended a terror training camp in Pakistan, run by Al-Qaeda. Hamid claimed he had come to the US with the intention of carrying out "jihad".

Dad Umer denied his son had involvement with a training camp, but after being shown a video of his son confessing, he said his son had attended such a camp in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He said he had paid for his son to fly to the US, and given him money, knowing of his intentions of creating a jihadi training camp in the US. As a result of this testimony, Hamid Hayat was indicted on September 22 of providing material support to a terror organisation.

The father and son are both accused of lying to federal investigators. Umer Hayat is accused of two counts of lying, and could face a minimum of 8 years and a maximum of 16 years if convicted.

His son Hamid is accused of three charges of lying to federal investigators, and also of providing material support to a terrorist organisation by attending a terrorist training camp. He could face up to 39 years for these charges if convicted, states Associated Press via the Guardian. At a minimum, he could serve 23 years if convicted on all charges laid against him.

Both are being tried in the same courtroom by two separate juries in the US District Court in Sacramento. The pair have been in custody since their arrests on June 5. Until then, they resided at Lodi in the San Joaquin Valley, 35 miles south of Sacramento.

The trial of Hamid Hyat has been officially ongoing since February 16, though testimony in his trial has been halted until the trial of his father Umer commenced.

On Tuesday (7 March), Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Ferris made the opening statements for the prosecution of Umer Hyatt. According to the Sacramento Bee, which also has a detailed list of the previous developments in the trials of the pair: "You will see Umer Hayat confess and you will see him talk about his knowledge. You will hear admissions in Umer Hayat's own voice" that he watched people "training to kill the enemy, including Americans."

She refers to 10 hours of recorded videotape evidence. Johnny L. Griffin III, defense attorney for Umer Hayat said in his opening statement that Hayat was bullied and emotionally pressured into making a confession.

He said: "You will see it got to the point that whatever the agents said, Umer agreed. The FBI was doing all the talking, and then it got to the point that (Hayat) would embellish on what the agents said."

He described his client as a naturalised citizen who arrived from Pakistan 30 years ago, as an honest and hardworking man who worked in agriculture at Lodi and sold ice cream in the summer months.

In the case of Hamid's trial, the jury has been presented evidence for seven days. Next Tuesday both juries are expected to be in the courtroom as evidence relevant to both individuals will be presented.

Yesterday, Umer Hayat's jury was shown video evidence of his interrogation.

According to the LA Times:

In a potential problem for the government when the case goes to the jury, the father's and son's stories about the alleged terrorist camp differ sharply. Hamid Hayat said the camp he attended was miles from the family home, tucked in a remote forest. Umer Hayat said it was in a huge basement only six miles from Rawalpindi, where his prominent father-in-law operates a large madrassa, or religious school.

Hamid Hayat named some of his relatives as other Lodi men who had attended the camps. Umer Hayat named the sons of three neighbors as camp attendees.

In the video shown yesterday, Umer related that he had witnessed almost a thousand trainees at the camp, wearing masks like "ninja turtles", and using swords to hack at effigies of US politicians.

Griffin says the credibility of one Naseem Khan, an FBI informant known by the title "Wildcat" is crucial to the case being found for or against his client. This man who became a naturalised US citizen in 2004, had been originally targeting the two religious leaders of the Lodi Muslim community, imams Mohammed Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed. Over a three-year investigation, these were suspected by the multi-agency federal Terrorism Task Force of terrorist associations and intentions.

Adil Khan was deported in August last year when he gave up contesting that his religious visa had run out. 38-year old Shabbir Ahmed had been deported at the same time. Both returned to Pakistan. Adil Khan had joined the Lodi mosque in 2001 to help raise funds for the Farooqia Islamic Center, which was refused building permission in September last year.

Denny Walsh of the Sacramento Bee noted of the videotape confessions:

The videotaped interrogation of Umer Hayat reveals a language gap between him and the agents that sometimes leads to confusion on Hayat's part as to what he is being asked. There is utter confusion, for example, as to when Hamid Hayat was in training and when Umer Hayat toured training camps as an observer.

"I'm not trying to confuse you," an agent said to him at one point. "I'm trying to, um, convey it so, so it makes sense."

"You guys not sleeping last night, too," Hayat replied, and the two agents in the room chuckle. "I don't sleep last night too, you know."

Hayat told the agents that - after his son returned from camp - he was given a tour of four camps by the man who drives his father-in-law. According to both Hayats, the father-in-law is a prominent and influential person in the pro-Taliban, anti-American movement in Pakistan.

We will report more from the two trials as they develop.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 8, 2006 7:39 PM

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