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| al-Arian Trial Update: FBI can't make wiretaps work |
| 2005-06-28 |
| TAMPA - Federal agents planted bugs inside the offices of an Islamic think tank suspected of serving as a front for a Palestinian terrorist group, a retired FBI supervisor testified Monday morning. But the effort appeared to bear little or no fruit. Agents could not get the microphones to work properly, Julian ``Jay'' Koerner said. It marked the first discussion of secret wiretaps as the trial of former University of South Florida Professor Sami Al-Arian and three co-defendants entered its fourth week. The men are charged in a 53- count federal indictment accusing them of racketeering and providing material support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Koerner described the process of securing eavesdropping warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The law targets people suspected of being agents of a foreign intelligence service or of an internationally based terrorist organization. Each warrant is approved by a secret panel of U.S. district judges that meets in Washington and is good for three months. The eavesdropping, which started in late 1993, sought intelligence information, he said. Criminal activity also was recorded if it was picked up and some of that was shared with other FBI agents pursuing the criminal case against Al-Arian and the others. The warrants allowed agents to record all calls on targeted telephone lines, receive copies of fax transmissions, and late in the investigation, to intercept some forms of computer communication, Koerner said. Conversations and faxes intercepted from 1993 until 2003 make up the heart of the prosecution's case. It isn't clear whether the bugs inside the World and Islam Studies Enterprise office contributed to the prosecution. ``I won't say they never worked,'' Koerner said. ``They didn't work as we anticipated they would work.'' In other testimony, an FBI computer analyst testified about documents and images found at defendant Hatim Fariz's home. They included a picture of the Islamic Jihad's founder and a mission statement for a charity considered a fundraising arm for the terrorist group. Defense attorneys argued the Web-based evidence shouldn't be admitted. Computers automatically download files from Web sites that may or may not be desired by the viewer, defense attorney Kevin Beck said. Beck said prosecutors cannot prove who actually viewed the Web pages. The Web hits may be part of the case for proving a material support for terrorists charge. In overruling the defense objections, U.S. District Judge James Moody said the government has the burden of proving the defendants knew the Islamic Jihad engaged in violence. One way to do that, he said, is to show what information they may have seen about the group. Defense attorneys can attack the gaps in proof when they get to cross examine Arndt, Moody said. |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #3 They'd better go to Plan B, because I want Al-Arian to go down. |
| Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro 2005-06-28 23:35 |
| #2 should make em watch "The Conversation" with Gene Hackman about 10 times |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-06-28 22:14 |
| #1 FBI can't make wiretaps work /Ima way past verclemped |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-06-28 21:58 |