Alleged terrorist operative seeks access to top al Qaeda captive
From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN
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Uzair Paracha
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- A Pakistani national jailed on terrorism-related charges is seeking to gain access to the top al Qaeda captive in U.S. custody, Khalid Shaiykh Mohammed, the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The motion is the first outside the Zacarias Moussaoui trial by a defendant in the United States seeking access to al Qaeda detainees considered untouchable "enemy combatants" in U.S. military custody.
The suspect, Uzair Paracha, 23, accused of helping an al Qaeda operative enter the United States, has been jailed in New York City for nine months and was charged in a five-count indictment last October.
His attorneys filed a motion this week in Manhattan federal court seeking access to Mohammed and two other U.S. detainees the attorneys say are central to their defense.
The motion could send the Paracha case, pending before U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein, on a path to the same legal standoff that has derailed the Moussaoui trial.
Moussaoui, 35, from France, has admitted training with al Qaeda behind the September 11 attacks and others worldwide, and contended he would have participated in a post-September 11 attack outside the U.S.
The Justice Department has opposed on national security grounds granting Moussaoui access to Mohammed and two other top al Qaeda captives who coordinated the September 11 attacks, although the defense believes the witnesses could provide testimony disproving Moussaoui's alleged links to the plot.
That dispute is pending before a federal appeals court in Virginia.
The government claims Paracha was tapped to help Majid Khan, a one-time Baltimore, Maryland, resident federal authorities suspect conducted surveillance for al Qaeda in the United States.
Prosecutors say before Paracha came to the United States he met with Mohammed and Khan twice in Karachi, Pakistan.
The al Qaeda members allegedly asked him to retrieve Khan's passport from a Maryland post office box, deposit money in his bank account, and use his credit cards to make it appear as if Khan were still in the United States.
In return, the charges say, al Qaeda promised to "invest" $200,000 in Paracha's business ventures until the terrorist group needed the cash back.
Paracha, 23, a graduate of a Pakistani business school and a legal U.S. resident, worked for three months in a Manhattan office selling shares in a Karachi apartment complex owned by his father, Saiffullah.
After he arrived in the U.S. last January, Paracha allegedly helped Khan obtain travel documents and posed as Khan when telephoning the Immigration and Naturalization Service. FBI agents say they found Khan's Maryland driver's license, his Social Security card, his Bank of America ATM card, and a key to his post office box in Paracha's possession.
Papers possessed by Paracha included handwritten instructions, such as "always call from a pay phone" and "put some money in my account," and statements such as "my status: asylee or refugee," according to the criminal charges.
Mohammed and Khan's detention locations overseas are undisclosed.
The charges against Paracha, including conspiracy to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda, carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
