By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 20, 2005
An American student charged in an al Qaeda plot to kill President Bush was tortured while jailed in Saudi Arabia, according to two doctors who examined Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, his attorney said yesterday in court papers.
One doctor found scars on Abu Ali's back consistent with having been whipped and diagnosed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from the mistreatment, said the lawyer, Ashraf W. Nubani. The other doctor, a psychiatrist at George Washington University Medical Center in the District, found evidence that Abu Ali was tortured physically and mentally, according to the filings and an interview with the doctor.
Nubani also said in the court papers that the FBI had acknowledged to the defense that Abu Ali told FBI agents interrogating him in Saudi Arabia about the abuse at the hands of the Saudis. The lawyer said FBI agents did nothing about it, even though they noted that Abu Ali was brought into the interrogation room hooded and manacled. He remained in a Saudi jail for 17 more months.
Federal prosecutors have denied that Abu Ali was tortured and said a U.S. doctor who evaluated him when he was brought back from Saudi Arabia to face terrorism charges in February found no evidence of mistreatment. Because of the clashing medical opinions, a federal judge in Alexandria will have to decide the explosive questions of whether Abu Ali was in fact tortured, and whether that means much of the evidence against him should be thrown out because it was obtained under duress.
The developments are another indication that the high-profile case -- and other terrorism cases that involve allegations of torture and a defendant's conditions of confinement in a foreign country -- may be difficult to prosecute in a U.S. courtroom. Abu Ali, 24, of Falls Church, is charged with terrorism counts that include participating in an al Qaeda assassination plot against Bush. Prosecutors say he confessed to the plot and admitted discussing with al Qaeda his plans to conduct a Sept. 11-style terrorist attack in the United States.
Debbie Weierman, an FBI spokeswoman, declined to comment yesterday. Frank R. Shults, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty, said: "It continues to be the government's position that the defendant has fabricated claims of mistreatment by Saudi officials in order to divert attention from his criminal involvement with an al Qaeda cell while in that country."
Court documents show that prosecutors notified the defense in a May 12 letter that Abu Ali told FBI agents in Saudi Arabia he had been "mistreated" and subjected to "mental" torture but did not allege that he had been physically tortured. Prosecutors also said Abu Ali had told a State Department consular officer in July 2003 that his treatment in Saudi Arabia was "excellent."
Legal experts are split on whether U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee is likely to throw out Abu Ali's statements to interrogators in Saudi Arabia, which the FBI said included a videotaped confession. Defense attorneys also are seeking to suppress evidence gained from searches of Abu Ali's Falls Church home and the dormitory room where he was studying in Saudi Arabia before being arrested by Saudi authorities in June 2003.
Even if the defense can prove the allegations of torture, lawyers will face a series of hurdles in getting the evidence thrown out. Some experts say U.S. personnel would have had to participate in the torture, which defense attorneys are not alleging.
Richard D. Friedman, a University of Michigan law professor, said the judge might give U.S. prosecutors some leeway because "judges don't have any control over these foreign officers."
But he added: "If what happened turns the court's stomach, the judge is not going to let an American prosecutor benefit from it."
Defense lawyers provided few details of the two examinations that they say found evidence of torture, saying the reports will be filed later. One examination of Abu Ali was performed April 20 by Allen S. Keller, a doctor at Bellevue Hospital in New York City who was described as an expert on torture.
Keller's findings "include historical, physical and psychological evidence supporting" Abu Ali's allegations of torture, including the scars on his back, court papers said. Keller did not return a telephone call yesterday.
The second doctor, Lynne M. Gaby, said in an interview yesterday: "Yes, I did find evidence in my evaluation that he was tortured." Gaby, an assistant professor of psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Center, declined to discuss her findings further.
Prosecutors yesterday would not identify the doctor who they say found no evidence of torture.