Sept. 11 perjury trial reopens

[DoYouEverWonder]

November 10, 2006

The protracted perjury case of a San Diego man linked to the Sept. 11 hijackers - tossed out, reinstated and subject of a mistrial - resurfaced yesterday with conflicting portrayals of the defendant: blatant liar or bewildered bystander.

In opening statements at the retrial of Osama Awadallah, prosecutor Brendan McGuire told jurors the defendant lied repeatedly under oath while testifying before a grand jury investigating the 2001 terrorist attacks.

<snip>

Awadallah, 25, was detained Sept. 20, 2001 as a material witness in San Diego, where he was attending college, after investigators found an old phone number of his in the car of hijacker Nawaf Alhazmi.

Under questioning by the FBI, Awadallah acknowledged having a passing acquaintance with Alhazmi, who worked at the same gasoline station and worshipped at the same mosque.

But during hours of follow-up grand jury testimony, he "flatly denied" to a grand jury that he knew Alhazmi's friend and fellow hijacker, Khalid Almihdhar, McGuire said.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyterr104969161nov10,0,7613826.story?coll=ny-nynews-print


All this just because they found someones's phone number in his car?

[lapfog_1]

1. Waterboard him, he'll talk... and when he does, then we can convict him.

:sarcasm: