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Student indicted for making false statements

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A San Diego college student who was charged in a criminal complaint two weeks ago with lying to a grand jury about his knowledge of two suspected September 11 hijackers has been indicted for the same offense.

A federal grand jury hearing evidence related to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon returned the indictment Wednesday against Osama Awadallah, according to Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White.

Awadallah, 21, a Jordanian who is a permanent resident of the United States, allegedly lied twice to the a grand jury about his knowledge of Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, whom the Justice Department has identified as two of the hijackers on board American Airlines Flight 77, which slammed into the Pentagon.

The indictment cancels a preliminary hearing that had been scheduled for Friday.

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Defense attorney Jesse Berman said Awadallah will be arraigned before U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin at 12:30 p.m. Monday.

The indictment alleges that Awadallah lied to the grand jury on October 10 when he said he did not know anyone named "Khalid," did not recognize photos of Almihdhar, and did not write the names "Nawaf" and "Khalid" in a school notebook.

Awadallah was studying English as a second language at Grossmont Community College in San Diego County. The handwritten paragraph in question was a September 15 exercise in the present perfect tense. His teacher turned it in to authorities.

In his second grand jury appearance on October 15, Awadallah acknowledged knowing Almihdhar, admitted writing the names, and identified Almihdhar as a man who had often accompanied Alhazmi. Awadallah said he had seen Alhazmi about 35 to 40 times in the San Diego area between April 2000 and January 2001 at Awadallah's workplace and at a mosque.

"He cleared it up in the second day in the grand jury and he did not intend to deceive them on the first day," Berman said. "He corrected himself and he certainly didn't intend to fool them," he said.

Awadallah is being held at Manhattan's federal jail, the Manhattan Correctional Center, locked up 24-hours a day in his own cell in the jail's highest security wing.

"He's been in custody almost six weeks. He'd loved to see his family," Berman said. Awadallah's father and one brother are U.S. citizens who also live in San Diego, and three other siblings are permanent residents.

Could face prison sentence

Berman blamed government prosecutors for ensnaring Awadallah in a nationwide dragnet that has led to the detention of more than 1,000 individuals.

Awadallah is one of three San Diego college students picked up in late September by the FBI and held as material witnesses.

Awadallah's roommate, Yazeed al-Salmi, a 23-year-old Saudi, was released by authorities October 11 after 17 days in custody and two grand jury appearances.

Mohdar Mohamed Al-Mohdar, a 23-year-old Somali born in Yemen, is charged with making a false statement on his political asylum application last year. He has been transferred to San Diego.

Attorneys say the students have lived in San Diego for three years and were acquainted with the hijackers -- Alhazmi and Almihdhar -- through a mosque.

If convicted, Awadallah faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on each of the two counts of perjury.

-- From CNN's Phil Hirschkorn.



 
 
 
 


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