|
|
| By: Associated Press |
| Published: January 31, 2006 |
| |
The Chicago Tribune urged a federal judge to turn down a government request for a closed-door hearing that would exclude the public and news media in the case of a Chicago-area man accused of laundering money for the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Separately, a coalition of civil rights, Arab-American and other groups urged U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve to reject the government's request for a closed hearing scheduled for March 6 in the racketeering case of Muhammad Hamid Khalil Salah.
"Secrecy can destroy the legitimacy of government institutions, including our criminal courts in particular," the Tribune said in a 20-page memorandum filed with the court. "Secrecy can cripple accountability of public servants and public trust in the judicial process. Secrecy can hide abuses of fundamental rights of citizens."
St. Eve has said she hopes to rule on the government's request this week.
Salah, 51, is one of three men charged in a racketeering indictment with laundering money that Hamas used to finance terrorism in Israel.
The others charged are Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, who according to federal prosecutors now lives in Damascus, Syria.
Salah served nearly five years in an Israeli prison after he was arrested there in 1993 and confessed that he was transporting money for Hamas. He says he was tortured into confessing.
Prosecutors want to use his Israeli confession against him in the Chicago court. His attorneys have urged St. Eve to rule out the use of the confession as the product of torture.
A hearing on whether the hearing will be suppressed is set for March 6, with prosecutors set to bring in Israeli intelligence agents to explain how Salah was interrogated.
But prosecutors say that such a hearing must be closed to protect the identities of the Israeli agents against possible reprisals from Hamas sympathizers. Prosecutors have also asked that the agents be allowed to testify under aliases and wearing "light disguise." |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
