- Sep 26, 2000
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061224/ap_on_re_us/attacks_material_witness
Ten days after jets destroyed the World Trade Center and struck the Pentagon, Osama Awadallah was detained by FBI agents.
He had never even gotten a parking ticket, but he was from Jordan ? and he had met two of the hijackers.
The 21-year-old community college student, one of hundreds of Muslim men picked up in the frenzied dragnet following the attacks, was whisked to New York to testify as a material witness before a grand jury.
That set off a five-year legal ordeal that ended last month with Awadallah's acquittal on perjury charges. He was never accused of involvement in terrorism but was charged with lying about how well he knew one of the hijackers.
In spite of his experience, he is moving ahead with long-held plans to apply for U.S. citizenship. He graduated with honors last spring from San Diego State University, is looking for a computer technician job and is studying for graduate school entrance exams.
"I want to move on from this, find my lucky girl and just be like every other American," he said recently at a restaurant in this San Diego suburb.
An observant Muslim, he politely declined to shake hands with a female reporter. He began with brusque questions about why he was being interviewed, but quickly relaxed in conversation.
"I watch what I say, who I'm talking to these days," he said. "The real effect is in trusting people."
Awadallah grew up in Jordan while his father and three older brothers came to San Diego to start a courier business. In 1999, he joined his father ? by then a naturalized U.S. citizen ? as a legal resident.
He found a mosque, got a job at a gas station and took English classes before enrolling at Grossmont College in the fall of 2000. At the gas station, Awadallah briefly worked with a Saudi named Nawaf al-Hazmi. A friend of al-Hazmi's, another Saudi named Khalid al-Mihdhar, sometimes stopped by the station.
On Sept. 11, 2001, he turned on the TV just as a hijacked American Airlines airliner slammed into the Pentagon with al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar on board.
"It was unbelievable, like a movie or something," Awadallah said. "I couldn't believe that was happening."
On Sept. 21, the FBI picked him up for questioning because agents found his phone number on a piece of paper in a car registered to al-Hazmi.
Awadallah says the agents promised he would be back in time for noon prayers. He didn't get home until that December.
Instead, Awadallah says, he was flown to New York, placed in solitary confinement with no access to his family or his lawyer, repeatedly strip-searched and subjected to bruising physical force by guards.
"Suddenly all these fingers were pointing at me, people were telling me I was responsible for 4,000 deaths," Awadallah said. "That I cannot forget. It's impossible for anyone to imagine how that feels."
Taken before the grand jury in shackles, Awadallah said he had met al-Hazmi in San Diego but denied knowing al-Mihdhar until prosecutors confronted him with an assignment notebook for his English class in which he had written both men's names.
Prosecutors charged him with two counts of perjury, alleging he had withheld potentially critical information about the hijackers. Defense attorneys said he had simply been confused, that he was tired, disoriented and struggling to understand legal terms in English.
In December 2001 he was released on $500,000 bail and returned to San Diego, wearing an electronic ankle bracelet. His friends at school and at his mosque avoided him.
"They thought if they walked with me they'd get in trouble, and there were other people who even thought I was working for the government," he said.
His case finally went to trial last April, ending in a mistrial after a lone juror held out against conviction. In November, a second jury found him not guilty.
Awadallah has sued the government, alleging he was wrongly detained and mistreated by guards. Elizabeth Wolstein, an assistant U.S. attorney in the case, declined to comment.
"I'm happy for myself because of the verdict, but I think I should fight for my rights," Awadallah said. "My whole life has been affected."
Hey, I would have downplayed the fact I knew one of the hijackers. I find that understandable.
It is interesting how the result of his first trial was hung at 11-1 for conviction. Yet a few months later at his second trial he was aquitted 12-0. I wonder what changed?
If what this guy says is true, he was doing just what we hope immigrants will do. Get a job, learn English and become part of the American dream.
Ten days after jets destroyed the World Trade Center and struck the Pentagon, Osama Awadallah was detained by FBI agents.
He had never even gotten a parking ticket, but he was from Jordan ? and he had met two of the hijackers.
The 21-year-old community college student, one of hundreds of Muslim men picked up in the frenzied dragnet following the attacks, was whisked to New York to testify as a material witness before a grand jury.
That set off a five-year legal ordeal that ended last month with Awadallah's acquittal on perjury charges. He was never accused of involvement in terrorism but was charged with lying about how well he knew one of the hijackers.
In spite of his experience, he is moving ahead with long-held plans to apply for U.S. citizenship. He graduated with honors last spring from San Diego State University, is looking for a computer technician job and is studying for graduate school entrance exams.
"I want to move on from this, find my lucky girl and just be like every other American," he said recently at a restaurant in this San Diego suburb.
An observant Muslim, he politely declined to shake hands with a female reporter. He began with brusque questions about why he was being interviewed, but quickly relaxed in conversation.
"I watch what I say, who I'm talking to these days," he said. "The real effect is in trusting people."
Awadallah grew up in Jordan while his father and three older brothers came to San Diego to start a courier business. In 1999, he joined his father ? by then a naturalized U.S. citizen ? as a legal resident.
He found a mosque, got a job at a gas station and took English classes before enrolling at Grossmont College in the fall of 2000. At the gas station, Awadallah briefly worked with a Saudi named Nawaf al-Hazmi. A friend of al-Hazmi's, another Saudi named Khalid al-Mihdhar, sometimes stopped by the station.
On Sept. 11, 2001, he turned on the TV just as a hijacked American Airlines airliner slammed into the Pentagon with al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar on board.
"It was unbelievable, like a movie or something," Awadallah said. "I couldn't believe that was happening."
On Sept. 21, the FBI picked him up for questioning because agents found his phone number on a piece of paper in a car registered to al-Hazmi.
Awadallah says the agents promised he would be back in time for noon prayers. He didn't get home until that December.
Instead, Awadallah says, he was flown to New York, placed in solitary confinement with no access to his family or his lawyer, repeatedly strip-searched and subjected to bruising physical force by guards.
"Suddenly all these fingers were pointing at me, people were telling me I was responsible for 4,000 deaths," Awadallah said. "That I cannot forget. It's impossible for anyone to imagine how that feels."
Taken before the grand jury in shackles, Awadallah said he had met al-Hazmi in San Diego but denied knowing al-Mihdhar until prosecutors confronted him with an assignment notebook for his English class in which he had written both men's names.
Prosecutors charged him with two counts of perjury, alleging he had withheld potentially critical information about the hijackers. Defense attorneys said he had simply been confused, that he was tired, disoriented and struggling to understand legal terms in English.
In December 2001 he was released on $500,000 bail and returned to San Diego, wearing an electronic ankle bracelet. His friends at school and at his mosque avoided him.
"They thought if they walked with me they'd get in trouble, and there were other people who even thought I was working for the government," he said.
His case finally went to trial last April, ending in a mistrial after a lone juror held out against conviction. In November, a second jury found him not guilty.
Awadallah has sued the government, alleging he was wrongly detained and mistreated by guards. Elizabeth Wolstein, an assistant U.S. attorney in the case, declined to comment.
"I'm happy for myself because of the verdict, but I think I should fight for my rights," Awadallah said. "My whole life has been affected."
Hey, I would have downplayed the fact I knew one of the hijackers. I find that understandable.
It is interesting how the result of his first trial was hung at 11-1 for conviction. Yet a few months later at his second trial he was aquitted 12-0. I wonder what changed?
If what this guy says is true, he was doing just what we hope immigrants will do. Get a job, learn English and become part of the American dream.
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