*ESX403 04/05/01
U.S. Completes Presentation of Evidence in Embassy Bombing Trial
(Defense expected to begin its case April 16) (1430)
By Judy Aita
Washington File Staff Correspondent

New York -- The United States Government April 4 completed the presentation of its evidence against four men accused of participating in the worldwide terrorist plot to kill Americans that resulted in the almost simultaneous bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa. The trial will resume on April 16 when the attorneys for the defendants begin to present their rebuttal.

The prosecution team opened its case February 5 with a statement from Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Butler outlining the United States' case. "The story is long, complicated, and chilling," he said.

"At the core, the charges are simple: All four of these defendants entered into an illegal agreement with Usama bin Laden to kill Americans anywhere in the world they could be found," Butler said. "In the end 224 men, women, and children from Kenya, Tanzania, and America lost their lives, and Kenya, Tanzania, and America will never be the same. For that America seeks justice."

On trial in New York are Wadih El Hage, 40, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon; Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, a 35-year-old Jordanian; Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, 24, a Saudi Arabian; and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, a 27-year-old Tanzanian. They are charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals; to murder, kidnap and maim U.S. nationals; and to destroy U.S. national defense buildings in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998, that killed 224 and injured more than 4,000.

Al-'Owhali and Mohamed could face the death penalty if convicted. El Hage, who is also charged with lying to a Federal Grand Jury, and Odeh could face life in prison if convicted. The defendants are part of a group of 22 charged with the crimes, including bin Laden, the wealthy Saudi businessman who heads the worldwide terrorist group "al Qaeda." Some -- including bin Laden, who is in Afghanistan -- are still at large. Khalid al-Fawwaz, Ibrahim Eidarous, and Abdel Abdul Bary -- who are charged with running the al Qaeda office in London -- are in custody in the United Kingdom. The United States is seeking extradition.

Ali Mohamed, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Egypt, pled guilty in October 2000 to five federal counts of conspiracy, which included plotting to kill U.S. citizens and conducting photographic surveillance of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. When he entered his guilty plea, he told the judge that bin Laden asked him to scout out the embassy, and when shown a photograph of the building he pointed to where a suicide truck could go.

The case of Mamdouh Mahmud Salim was severed from that of the four currently on trial in November after he seriously wounded a prison guard during an escape attempt. In addition to the bombing charges, Salim is now also facing charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.

During the last week of their case the U.S. attorneys presented the remaining pieces of the conspiracy puzzle and told the jury how Odeh was apprehended in Pakistan. Pakistani immigration officials from Karachi airport testified April 2 about how Odeh was stopped trying to enter Pakistan on August 7, 1998, using a false passport. Two Kenyan CID officers described how they handled Odeh's personal effects after he was returned to Nairobi and then turned them over to the FBI officials.

The prosecution also entered faxes and letters seized at al Qaeda's London offices and homes of al Qaeda members linking the defendants and bin Laden's fatwahs (Islamic rulings) against the United States as well as transcripts of wiretaps of co-conspirators' conversations in the months leading up to the bombings.

Over the course of nine weeks, key U.S. prosecutors Patrick Fitzgerald, Kenneth Karas, and Butler drew a circle of evidence around the four defendants, beginning with an overall description of al Qaeda's organization and of its publicized goals to kill Americans anywhere in the world they can be found, revealing members of the organization, moving to specifics of the bombings, and concluding with the numerous contacts of al Qaeda members on four continents.

The government ended its presentation April 4 with the reading of two declarations published through al Qaeda offices in London claiming responsibility for the bombings. "The Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Places claims responsibility for the bombing in Nairobi under the name of 'the Holy Ka'ba operation.' The operation was carried out by two men from the blessed Mecca who are members of the Martyr Khalid Al-Saeed Company, of the Second Battalion for the Liberation of the Holy Kaaba. God willing, details of the operation will be released at a later time," Karas read.

"The Islamic Army ... declares its absolute commitment to pursue the American forces and declares its absolute determination to strike at American interests everywhere" until seven demands are met, Karas said, quoting the declaration.

The demands included removal of all Western military from the Arabian peninsula; release of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, Sheikh Suleiman al-Odeh, Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali, and others who are being held in U.S., Israeli, and Saudi prisons; an end to U.S. support for Israel; and an end to economic sanctions against Muslim countries.

The declaration on the Tanzania bombing was the same except that the operation was called the "Al-Aqsa Mosque operation," carried out by "a man from the land of Kinana (Egypt), who is a member of the Martyr Abdullah Azzam company, of the Seventh Battalion for the Liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Since the trial began February 5, the prosecution, among other actions, has brought in witnesses who have been kept secret for years to tell about what al Qaeda is, how it was formed, and how it works. The first witness, Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl, has been under U.S. protection for five years after pleading guilty to a terrorist charge in a confidential proceeding. Al-Fadl left Africa two years before the embassy bombings took place and is not one of the 22 named in the indictment.

Al-Fadl laid out the details of his involvement in the beginnings of al Qaeda and his work with bin Laden and other terrorist groups in Africa and the Middle East as al Qaeda expanded its network across the region and told of the companies bin Laden set up in Sudan to finance his terrorist operations. He identified the defendant El Hage as a key associate of bin Laden's in Sudan.

Essam al Ridi, a naturalized American pilot born in Egypt who sold an airplane to bin Laden; Ashif Mohamed Juma, the brother-in-law of a key bin Laden aide who was killed in a ferry accident on Lake Victoria in 1996; and L'Houssaine Kherchtou, another member of al Qaeda who lived in Nairobi for several years, took the stand after al-Fadl. All four linked El Hage with bin Laden or his organization. Kherchtou also identified Odeh as someone he met at a training camp run by bin Laden.

Kherchtou testified that he saw his former surveillance instructor Ali Mohamed when Mohamed -- along with Anas al Liby (also named in the indictment) -- used his Nairobi apartment at the end of 1994 or beginning of 1995 for some of their surveillance activities, turning his sitting room into a darkroom to develop their photographs. One day, Kherchtou said, he saw al Liby with a camera "about 500 meters" from the U.S. Embassy.

American, Kenyan, and Tanzanian victims of the bombings came to court to tell of the horror they faced in the bombings and remember the friends and colleagues they lost.

FBI agents recounted the individual confessions Odeh, Al-'Owhali, and Mohamed each made after being arrested. Scores of other agents presented physical evidence, including fragments of the bomb trucks, fingerprints, and documents collected as evidence after the bombing.

The trial was originally expected to take about 10 months, but the time has been shortened considerably because the prosecution and defense teams have been able to agree to numerous so-called stipulations on the evidence. That has eliminated the necessity of bringing scores of witnesses from around the world to authenticate evidence such as telephone company records and grand jury testimony and to describe where each piece of evidence was found.

Judge Leonard Sand has told the jury that he expects the proceedings to be completed before August 1.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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