Posted on 05/29/2002 1:18:36 AM PDT by kattracks
ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 29, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- A judge won't allow lawyers for John Walker Lindh to interview his fellow Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners but says the defense can submit written questions that would be asked by military interrogators.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III on Tuesday said there was a security risk unless the government could review questions in advance, but he promised to intervene if officials improperly eliminated any defense questions.
Military interrogators would question the captives, held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and send a videotape to the defense team later. The ruling only applies to pretrial questioning said Ellis, who reserved any debate over trial testimony by the captives for a later time.
American-born Lindh, 21, is accused in a U.S. indictment of conspiring to murder U.S. nationals, providing services to al-Qaida and the Taliban and using firearms during crimes of violence. Jury selection for his trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 26.
Lindh's attorneys sought face-to-face interviews with the prisoners but Ellis told a hearing: "I find the government's assertion of claims of national defense and national security to be valid."
He added, however, that "if necessary, I will reassess the balance I have struck today" if the government improperly hinders the defense from obtaining potentially favorable testimony.
"I'm going to be the arbiter," he added.
Lindh's lawyers believe some of the al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners held in Cuba can confirm Lindh's contentions that he never contemplated fighting Americans in Afghanistan, that he received conventional military - not terrorism - training and that he had no role in planning a prison uprising in Afghanistan that led to the murder of a CIA agent.
Lindh attorney George Harris said questions would be submitted for 20 detainees. The lawyers also want to interview Yaser Esam Hamdi, who is believed to be an American citizen and was moved from Cuba to the Norfolk Naval Station jail in Virginia.
Ellis said he may allow a face-to-face interview with Hamdi, and asked the government to file pleadings if it had any objections.
The Lindh defense team is trying to have charges against him thrown out and suppress statements he made to government interrogators about his time as a Taliban solider.
Under the system approved by the judge, Lindh's lawyers will submit written questions to government attorneys representing the Justice Department and the Department of Defense, who will be separate from the prosecution team.
The questions will be woven into normal interrogation of the prisoners and defense lawyers will receive a summary of the answers. Lindh's lawyers also will get a chance to submit follow-up written questions and eventually will receive a videotape of the interview.
By LARRY MARGASAK Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
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