Posted on 01/02/2004 3:05:54 AM PST by Prince Charles
CHICAGO (AP) -- A community newspaper publisher accused of spying on Iraqi opposition groups in the United States for Saddam Hussein's intelligence service wants the charges thrown out because federal prosecutors mistakenly disclosed classified information.
Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi, of Oak Lawn, is scheduled to go to trial Monday on federal charges of perjury and failing to register as a foreign agent.
But lawyers for Dumeisi, 61, filed court papers this month detailing efforts to get more information about a page of grand jury testimony prosecutors now say should never have been turned over to the defense.
Because of that disclosure, the prosecution's subsequent attempts to get the page back and the anticipation they will seek to bar use of the information, Dumeisi's attorneys say the only way to avoid an unwarranted delay is to dismiss the charges.
"Mr. Dumeisi has been in custody for over five months, all of it in solitary confinement," his lawyers wrote. "He should not have his trial delayed because the government has failed to meet its obligations."
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald declined comment.
In the court filings, Dumeisi's lawyers say prosecutors disclosed the grand jury testimony of a key witness on Dec. 8. They requested more information about page 50 of the testimony, they say, but prosecutors told them on Dec. 19 that the page was classified.
Then prosecutors "including the United States attorney himself, demanded the immediate return of the page of the grand jury testimony in question," threatening a search of Dumeisi's cell and his attorneys' offices if they did not comply, lawyer William Theis wrote in a motion filed last week.
The motion said all copies of the page were returned to prosecutors, but Dumeisi retained the right to use the information to build his case. Dumeisi's lawyers have since been banned from publicly describing the page of grand jury testimony.
Both sides are expected to discuss the classified information in a closed hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Suzanne Conlon on Friday.
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