Criminal Trial for America’s Last ‘Enemy Combatant’

43-year-old suspected terrorist Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri has been officially indicted with providing material support to Al Qaeda and conspiring with others to provide material support to Al Qaeda. The two-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in the Central District of Illinois on Feb 26 and announced in a US Department of Justice press release on Feb 27.

If convicted, al-Marri, who is a dual citizen of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, faces up to 15 years in prison for each count of the indictment. That’s a lot, but nothing compared to the uncertainty of the indefinite jail time he’s been serving since June 2003. The indictment probably comes as something of a relief to al-Marri, who’s spent the last 5+ years of his life in isolation at the US Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina, without being tried or convicted of a crime.

Al-Marri arrived in the United States on Sept 10, 2001, ostensibly to pursue a second bachelor’s degree at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. He was detained in the Central District of Illinois and then transferred to the Southern District of New York as a material witness in the investigation of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks. Charged with credit card fraud, false statements and identity fraud, al-Marri never made it to trial.

Instead, he was labeled an “enemy combatant,” a far worse fate, given that under the Bush Administration, this meant al-Marri would not be protected by the laws set forth in the US Constitution. The last enemy combatant being held in America, al-Marri was detained at a time when the CIA and the Pentagon were informed that “there were virtually no legal impediments to the use of physical and psychological force to break ‘unlawful enemy combatants,’” reported The New Yorker in its Feb 23 issue. “Suspects considered especially ‘high value’ were subjected to extreme sensory deprivation and other harsh tactics, modeled on Soviet and Chinese torture programs…”

Deprived almost totally of human interaction, sunlight, warm food, warm clothing, and anything to do or read for months, al-Marri reportedly started to show signs of insanity. His treatment got worse when interrogators showed up at the brig, and he refused to cooperate. Al-Marri was eventually allowed to meet with his defense lawyers after a 16-month period of no contact. His lawyers filed suit against the Department of Defense in 2005, claiming that the brig conditions were creating a “mental health emergency” for the detainee. Al-Marri’s conditions in the brig started to improve thereafter – he was allowed a visit by an imam when his father died, and he could place a phone call to his family, long since back in Qatar, twice a year. His digs expanded to include a few more of the cells on his empty wing, and he was allowed to read the religious texts brought to him by his lawyer. He even got a 32-inch television, a parting gift from the brig’s commander, who transferred away from the facility in December.

Andrew Savage, al-Marri’s lawyer, doesn’t think his client poses a threat to the United States, but Michael McGovern, a former Assistant US Attorney for New York, who indicted al-Marri the first time around, believes Savage is being naïve, especially “‘given that the evidence showed that he was communicating directly with the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks.’” Others point out that the incriminating evidence is unreliable as it comes from the confessions of terrorists elicited under severe torture.

The most recent indictment of al-Marri means that the government is ready to put his fate back in the hands of the US criminal justice system. (The original charges were dropped when al-Marri was detained as an enemy combatant). A statement from Attorney General Eric Holder highlights this return to the law: “This indictment shows our resolve to protect the American people and prosecute alleged terrorists to the full extent of the law. In this administration, we will hold accountable anyone who attempts to do harm to Americans, and we will do so in a manner consistent with our values.”

On Jan 22, 2009, President Obama tasked the Attorney General with leading an inter-agency review of al-Marri’s case. The President directed the Attorney General, the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, as well as the Director of National Intelligence to carry out a thorough review of the basis for al-Marri’s continued incarceration, and to identify and evaluate alternatives for dealing with his case.

Following the indictment of Feb 26, al-Marri is now due to be moved from his brig home in South Carolina to the custody of the Justice Department, where he will await criminal prosecution. His fate will be determined by a jury in an open court, as per the dictates of the US criminal justice system. Throughout his time at the US Naval Brig in Charleston, he has firmly proclaimed his innocence.

pics courtesy of www.charleston.net and www.msnbc.msn.com