Padilla's Trial Will Feature CNN Interview With Bin Laden

Jun 21, 11:40 PM

Current Headlines: MIAMI _ Federal jurors in a high-profile Miami terrorism trial today will view a decade-old, bombshell interview that CNN did with Osama bin Laden _ even though there is no direct link between the al-Qaida mastermind and Jose Padilla and his two co-defendants.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke ruled Thursday that she will allow the controversial 1997 TV interview as evidence because it was discussed in FBI-wiretapped phone conversations by the two Muslim men accused of recruiting Padilla in the United States for "violent jihad" abroad.

"This is the most prejudicial piece of evidence _ this will bring in 9/11," said defense attorney Kenneth Swartz.

Cooke cautioned that the dozen Miami-Dade jurors could misconstrue the al-Qaida leader's comments as "malignant," but decided it was important for the panel to watch the videotape to gauge the possible state of mind of Padilla's alleged recruiters.

In the wiretapped conversations, they "celebrated" bin Laden's comments about waging jihad against the U.S. and its allies, prosecutors said.

The judge stressed that the defense's case rests mainly on the assertion that Adham Amin Hassoun, Kifah Wael Jayyousi and Padilla were committed to providing humanitarian aid for persecuted Muslims overseas _ not a holy-war plot against the United States.

Cooke said she would restrict the jurors' viewing to bin Laden's remarks, excluding commentary by CNN correspondent Peter Arnett, U.S. officials and Islamic experts in the original 24-minute airing on May 10, 1997. She will allow only seven minutes to be shown to jurors.

To safeguard the rights of Padilla, she also said she would give a "strongly worded instruction" to the jury beforehand that the former Broward County resident never saw the CNN interview or talked about it with his alleged recruiters.

While Padilla and the other defendants have never been accused of being part of the Sept. 11 attacks, the prosecution has shown evidence that Padilla filled out a suspected al-Qaida application and trained in Afghanistan in 2000.

Defense lawyers furiously fought the prosecution's bid to have the bin Laden interview admitted. Federal prosecutor John Shipley argued the CNN videotape was key to understanding the true motives of Hassoun and Jayyousi.

Lawyers for Hassoun and Jayyousi strongly disagreed that government-recorded phone conversations between the men before and after the 1997 broadcast showed they praised bin Laden.

Jayyousi's lawyer, William Swor, disputed whether his client ever saw the original broadcast.

And if he did view it later on CNN's website, "he certainly doesn't celebrate and doesn't adopt anything the tape says," Swor said.

Padilla's lawyers were more outraged by the judge's ruling.

"Your honor, if you're going to let it in, we're going to ask for a mistrial," said defense attorney Anthony Natale, who had urged the judge to "give us a fair trial."

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