A U.S administration official admitted a Somali National was held abroad on a U.S. Navy ship for questioning for over two months without being advised of any legal rights. The man, identified as Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, was brought to New York City on July 4 to face charges in a U.S.criminal court. Warsame arrived in New York City late on July 4 after being ‘formally arrested’ the previous day, despite having spent more than two months in custody since he was abducted by the U.S Navy in April, according to a letter from prosecutors to the U.S. court.
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Abduction, Detention & Interrogation
Warsame was actually first ‘arrested’ in April by the U.S. military in the Gulf of Aden, when he was kidnapped in the Horn of Africa region by U.S. military personnel on April 19. He was questioned about anti-terrorism “for intelligence purposes for more than two months” before being informed of his Miranda rights, the prosecutors said in a statement. Miranda rights entitle suspects to a lawyer and the right to remain silent.
Warsame was questioned for intelligence purposes for over two months aboard a U.S. Navy ship. Senior administration officials said Tuesday night that he provided important intelligence on two State Department-designated terror groups—al-Qaida and its Somali ally, al-Shabaab, before being read his Miranda rights, waiving them and submitting for several days to questioning by FBI agents designed to elicit statements that could be used against him in his civilian trial.
After spending two months being interrogated aboard a U.S.warship, a Somali man described as having ties to al-Qaida has arrived inNew Yorkto face terrorism charges.
Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was captured April 19 and then transferred to the U.S. Navy ship, where he was questioned and tortured at sea by intelligence officials, senior administration officials said Tuesday. Warsame reportedly provided valuable intelligence about al-Qaida in Yemen and its relationship with Somalia’s al-Shabab militants.
After Warsame was questioned by the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, a team of experts from the military, intelligence agencies and the Justice Department who specialise in ‘enhanced interrogation techniques,’ he was turned over to FBI interrogators who started the process over in a way that could be used in court. He was read and waived his rights under U.S.law not to incriminate himself and instead opted to keep talking for days, officials claim.
At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney defended the administration’s decision to detain Mr. Warsame for two months to allow intelligence officials to interrogate him.
“Wherever possible, first priority is and always has been to apprehend terrorist suspects and preserve the opportunity to elicit valuable intelligence that can help protect the American people,” said Mr. Carney, who added that the government acquired valuable information and that the Red Cross was told of his detention and officials had a chance to visit the site and interview the detainee.
Mr. Warsame was then flown to New Yorkon Monday and appeared Tuesday before Judge McMahon with his court-appointed attorney, solo practitioner Priya Chaudry. He entered a plea of not guilty to a nine-count indictment in United States v. Warsame, 11 Crim 559.
America’s Accusations
A Somali national was arraigned secretly Tuesday in New York on charges of providing material support for al-Qaida and another terror organization in the Arabian Peninsula.
Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, believed to be in his mid-20s, appeared before Southern District Judge Colleen McMahon in a case that could mark another chapter in the long fight over whether accused terrorists apprehended overseas should be tried in U.S. civilian courts.
Court documents unsealed Tuesday said Warsame was a fighter for al-Shabab and helped train others in the organization in 2009, then helped support and train al-Qaida inYemen until 2011. That makes him a potentially valuable intelligence asset, because he had unique access in both groups.
Warsame is accused of fighting with and helping to train members of al-Shabaab between 2007 until his capture in April of 2011. Beginning in 2009, according to documents unsealed yesterday, he helped al-Qaida by providing money, training, communications equipment, facilities and personnel.
Prosecutors also allege that, while inYemenin 2010 and 2011, he received explosives from al-Qaida and brokered weapons deals between al-Qaida and al-Shabaab. Warsame is charged with two counts of conspiracy and two counts of providing material support to al-Shabaab and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula; two counts of using, carrying and possession of firearms (machine guns and destructive devices) in further of the crimes of violence in the material support and conspiracy charges; conspiracy to teach and demonstrate the making of explosives; and conspiracy to receive military-type training and receiving military training from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Warsame pled not guilty at his arraignment Tuesday. Court documents unsealed Tuesday show that the Justice Department plans to use a laptop computer, handwriting analysis, USB drives and a memory card as evidence at trial. Warsame is believed to have been a middle man between al-Shabab and the Yemeni franchise of al-Qaida, NPR‘s Carrie Johnson said.
“He tried to arrange weapons deals between the two. That means he knows figures in both groups,” Johnson said. “Some of the nine charges this man faces include material support for terrorist groups and conspiracy and weapons charges. If he’s convicted of some of those charges, he could face a mandatory life sentence in American courts,” she said. “Some of those charges are not available in the military commission system. Others are available, but it’s not entirely clear how they would hold up on appeal.”
The ‘New’ American ‘Justice’
The announcement of Warsame’s arrest prompted criticism from Republicans in Washington who support legislation that has blocked the transfer of detainees at Guantánamo Bay,Cuba, to the United States for trial in civilian courts.
Fierce local and national opposition last year forced the Obama administration to pull the plug on a plan to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and several confederates inNew Yorkand instead put them on trial before a military commission at Guantánamo.
President Barack Obama’s administration has come under fire by Republicans and even some fellow Democrats over his decision to prosecute some terrorism suspects in criminal courts and not in military courts, where rules for evidence are looser.
In a speech on the Senate floor yesterday, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, assailed the administration’s decision to bring Warsame to theUnited States for trial. He said that Warsame belongs at the U.S.prison at Guantánamo, where he could be tried by a military tribunal. Mr. McConnell said:
“The administration has purposefully imported a terrorist into theU.S.and is providing him all the rights of U.S.citizens in court, This ideological rigidity being displayed by the administration is harming the national security of theUnited States of America.”
Mr. McConnell’s remarks drew an immediate rebuke from Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate:
“To come here and second-guess the president because he’s held a man for two months in military interrogation and now is being prosecuted in our criminal courts is totally unfair, unfair because the same standard was not applied to the Republican president who tried hundreds of would-be terrorists, accused terrorists in our criminal courts successfully.”
Drawing attention to the fact that under the administrations of both the Republican President George W. Bush and that of President Obama more than 400 suspected terrorists have been tried in civilian courts in the United States and are serving time in U.S.prisons.
But the administration insists it will press forward with civilian trials for some terrorism suspects. Tuesday’s action may have been an attempt to exploit a loophole in the law restricting terror trials in U.S. Article III courts by first interrogating Warsame aboard a Navy ship instead of designating him an enemy combatant and detaining him at Guantánamo.
The case shows that the Obama administration is sticking to its plan to use civilian courts to prosecute terrorists. It also offers a glimpse at how the U.S.plans to interrogate detainees now that Obama has closed the CIA’s network of secret prisons.
“U.S.officials say they have brought over two dozen Somali pirates into U.S.courts over the past few years. So, there’s some precedent for this,” Johnson said. In the case of Warsame, Johnson said there are sound legal reasons for bringing him into the civilian courts.
A senior administration official defended the decision, saying the Defense Department and intelligence officials agreed with other members of the national security team that Mr. Warsame should be prosecuted in civilian courts. Officials who discussed the case spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is ongoing.
However the senior Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, Senator Susan Collins, said she did not agree with this decision, saying:
“A foreign national who fought on behalf of al Shabaab in Somalia – and who was captured by our military overseas – should be tried in a military commission, not a federal civilian court in New York or anywhere else in our country.”
The unusual case against Warsame was foreshadowed in congressional testimony late last month. Obama’s choice to become commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, Navy Vice Adm. William H. McRaven, told senators that the U.S. could hold suspected terrorists on naval ships until prosecutors file charges against them. McRaven did not say exactly how long such detentions could last.
Congress has blocked the administration from transferring any detainees out of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay,Cuba, for trial in theU.S., and some in Congress are also questioning whether all new terrorism cases should be handled by military commissions. Most recently, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican, said two men arrested by the FBI on terrorism charges should be prosecuted at Guantanamo Bay.
The last major trial of an accused terrorist in the Southern District ended with the conviction of former Guantánamo detainee Ahmed Ghailani in November of a single count of conspiracy to destroy U.S.buildings and property in connection with the 1998 al-Qaida bombing of two U.S.embassies in Africa. He was sentenced to life in prison early this year (NYLJ, Jan. 26).
Another man accused in that conspiracy, Khalid al-Fawwaz, is expected to be extradited to the United Statesfrom Londonshortly. He is accused of working as Osama bin Laden’s publicist in Great Britain and would be the sixth man to go on trial in New York on the original bin Laden indictment.
Administration sources said that no terrorism suspects are currently being held by the Navy. Southern District Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin Naftalis and Adam Hickey are handling the prosecution for the government. Warsame’s next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 8. He faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted of any of the charges.
Compiled from articles originally by: Donna Cassa, Mark Hamblett, Carrie Johnson, Grant McCool, Basil Katz, and Jeremy Pelofsky and AP.
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