MIAMI - Two men accused of supporting terrorism by recruiting Muslim extremists are seeking dismissal of the charges, alleging that jailers mishandled a Quran and conducted inappropriate searches of their cells. Attorneys for Adhan Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi said in court motions that jailers disrespectfully tossed Hassoun's Quran on his bunk and left 8,000 pages of trial papers in disarray. The incidents occurred in May and June at a federal detention center in downtown Miami and amount to government misconduct and unconstitutional intrusion on trial preparation, according to the motions filed Friday.
"By depriving the defendants of the confidentiality of their own case-related notes, the government has destroyed any possible confidence that their case can be prepared with privacy," the attorneys wrote. | I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think anything a prisoner has in his cell is not subject to a search. |
Jayyousi, a U.S. citizen and former assistant superintendent of Detroit public schools, has been in isolation since he was arrested in March and transferred to Miami. Hassoun, a Lebanese-born Palestinian, has been held in solitary confinement for nearly a year following two years in an immigration jail.
They are accused of conspiring in the 1990s to raise money and recruit Muslim extremists to fight in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya and Somalia. They allegedly recruited Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member and Muslim convert who is held by the United States as an enemy combatant.
Arrested in May 2002, Padilla allegedly planned attacks on the United States, including use of a radioactive "dirty bomb."
The trial for Jayyousi and Hassoun is set for September 2006, which would leave them in solitary for another year. Their attorneys are seeking an end to their solitary confinement through release or house arrest. The two face life terms if convicted. Alicia Valle, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, said Monday that prosecutors would respond in writing. Messages left at the jail were not immediately returned. |