Washington, USA - Attorneys for a prominent Muslim spiritual leader convicted on terrorism charges said yesterday that they have evidence that he was wiretapped under the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program, and they have asked a judge to declare the program illegal.
The filing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria is the latest development in a nearly three-year battle over whether Ali al-Timimi was a subject of the now-defunct National Security Agency anti-terrorist operation.
Timimi, of Fairfax County, was convicted in 2005 of inciting his Northern Virginia followers to train for jihad against the United States and was sentenced to life in prison.
Timimi's attorneys are using the controversial surveillance program to challenge his conviction, saying the Islamic scholar was a likely candidate for wiretapping. If he was, they say, that would have violated his constitutional rights because the program was illegal. Bush has said the program, under which the NSA monitored phone calls and e-mails involving U.S. residents and foreign parties without obtaining warrants from a secret court that handles such matters, was legal and necessary to protect Americans from terrorists.
In yesterday's filing, Timimi's attorneys wrote that "it has been established that surveillance related to Dr. al-Timimi was gathered under NSA's warrantless surveillance program and potentially other agencies." They did not specify the evidence, which has been litigated in secret proceedings since a federal appeals court sent the case back to the trial judge to explore the matter in 2006.
Federal prosecutors declined to comment and have said previously that they provided Timimi's defense all material required by law. In a hearing in October, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said the government might have violated federal rules by failing to turn over relevant evidence to the defense. But she also indicated that she is unlikely to grant Timimi a new trial.
Andrew McBride, a former federal prosecutor in Alexandria, said Brinkema might decline to rule on parts of yesterday's motion because "the issue of the program's legality isn't really before her. What's at issue is: Did they give the defense what they recorded, and would that have affected the outcome of the trial."