FBI agent describes Padilla code

AP on Yahoo ^ | 6/7/07 | Curt Anderson - ap

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MIAMI - An FBI agent testified Thursday in the trial of suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla that members of an alleged Islamic extremist support network talked in code, substituting words like "tourism" and "football" for "jihad."

The agent, John T. Kavanaugh, said participants suspected they were being overheard by government officials and urged one another not to openly discuss sensitive matters over the phone.

"They believed they were not the only people listening to the telephone calls. It was said explicitly," Kavanaugh said.

Among the most common code words, he said, was "tourism" in place of "jihad" — an Arabic word for holy war — and "tourist" for "mujahedeen fighter." There was also talk of "the first area," which Kavanaugh said meant Afghanistan, as well as "resort places," or countries where jihad was being fought.

The wiretap intercepts that were played for jurors Thursday mostly involved Padilla's two co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, although one call purportedly mentioned Padilla by his alias of "Ibrahim."

All three are charged with being part of a support cell for Islamic extremist groups worldwide, including al-Qaida.

Padilla, a U.S. citizen held as an enemy combatant for 3 1/2 years, is accused of filling out a form to attend an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan. U.S. officials originally said Padilla came to the United States in 2002 on a mission to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb," but those allegations are not part of the Miami case.

The FBI listened to phone calls involving the suspected conspirators from 1994 to 2001, eventually intercepting about 300,000 conversations. Of those, 123 are being played for jurors.

In one 1995 call, Hassoun is telling Jayyousi and others in this suspected code that it's important to let interested Muslims know where the action is.

"We work toward always trying to inform them of the nice places for tourism and resort places," Hassoun says, according to an FBI translation from Arabic.

In a 1997 call, Hassoun switches back and forth from "tourism" to "jihad" and then describes what the word should mean.

"Whenever jihad is mentioned in the Quran, it can only mean that it is a battle for the sake of Allah," Hassoun is quoted as saying.

An earlier 1994 phone call between Jayyousi and another suspected conspirator, Kassem Daher, describes violence during the war in the Balkans. Daher was the purported Canadian link in the support network and was indicted in the Miami case, but he is in custody in Lebanon and not part of the trial.

In the call, Daher describes events in Bosnia involving Muslim forces.

"They cut the throats of two people. ... They captured two people and they immediately chopped off their heads," he says, adding later: "It's an important matter, but I cannot discuss it over the telephone."

Defense lawyers objected repeatedly to Kavanaugh's description of the calls, arguing that the testimony could mislead the jury. They sought to have the calls played while jurors followed along in transcripts with little commentary about their meaning from Kavanaugh.

"If they've got evidence, put it in," said Jayyousi attorney William Swor. "Not all of the spin. It is spin."

The 1996 call in which Padilla is mentioned by the name "Ibrahim" involved another man, Mohamed Hesham Youssef, discussing plans both had to travel to Egypt. A phone number included in the call matched that given by Padilla on a passport application, Kavanaugh testified.

Youssef was indicted in the Miami case but is in custody in Egypt and not part of the trial. Like Padilla, prosecutors say, he was recruited by the North American cell to fight for Muslim extremist causes overseas.

Prosecutors say Padilla was recruited in South Florida by Hassoun, then traveled to Egypt and eventually went to Afghanistan to train with al-Qaida.

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