DM - Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law says admissions he made to U.S. authorities can’t be used against him in federal court because he was disoriented and didn’t understand his Miranda Rights when they were read to him by federal agents. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who appeared in videos with the al-Qaeda leader and married one of his daughters, claims federal authorities forced him to wear blackout goggles and earmuffs before they loaded him onto an American Gulfstream jet bound for New York earlier this year. The equipment, he says, altered his mental state and left him unable to understand what he was being told. The legal challenge from Abu Ghaith’s attorneys in federal court on Tuesday reveals one of the problems with prosecuting terrorism suspects in civilian courts – where they are afforded all of the rights of American criminal defendants, including the ‘right to remain silent.’ Abu Ghaith was arrested in Jordan in March and turned over the American counter-terrorism authorities, who extradited him to the United States to strand trial in a New York City federal court on charges that he conspired to kill Americans. A report by a U.S. Marshal says that during that 12-hour flight to the U.S., Abu Ghaith was ‘willing to tell his story and answer our questions,’ according to Fox News. However, defense attorney Stanley Cohen is arguing that nothing he said aboard that plane should be used against him because he was not properly Mirandized, and therefore not aware of all his legal rights.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
DM - Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law says admissions he made to U.S. authorities can’t be used against him in federal court because he was disoriented and didn’t understand his Miranda Rights when they were read to him by federal agents. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who appeared in videos with the al-Qaeda leader and married one of his daughters, claims federal authorities forced him to wear blackout goggles and earmuffs before they loaded him onto an American Gulfstream jet bound for New York earlier this year. The equipment, he says, altered his mental state and left him unable to understand what he was being told. The legal challenge from Abu Ghaith’s attorneys in federal court on Tuesday reveals one of the problems with prosecuting terrorism suspects in civilian courts – where they are afforded all of the rights of American criminal defendants, including the ‘right to remain silent.’ Abu Ghaith was arrested in Jordan in March and turned over the American counter-terrorism authorities, who extradited him to the United States to strand trial in a New York City federal court on charges that he conspired to kill Americans. A report by a U.S. Marshal says that during that 12-hour flight to the U.S., Abu Ghaith was ‘willing to tell his story and answer our questions,’ according to Fox News. However, defense attorney Stanley Cohen is arguing that nothing he said aboard that plane should be used against him because he was not properly Mirandized, and therefore not aware of all his legal rights.
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