US antiterror tactics crimp new terror case
Some of the strongest evidence against Jose Padilla, whose trial begins Monday, was coerced and can't be used in court.
from the April 16, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Key document from unknown Afghan
Padilla's lawyers are raising questions about the document. They say it was delivered to the government by an anonymous Afghan citizen who drove up to a Central Intelligence Agency officer in December 2001 and handed him a number of documents that the Afghani said were recovered from an abandoned house once occupied by "Arabs."
According to a forensic expert for the defense, the data form was filled out using two different kinds of ink that are typically not found outside North America. The form was completed at different times with three different types of handwriting, according to the defense expert.
The suggestion is that someone else might have signed Padilla's name or somehow tampered with the form to help shore up the government's case.
Prosecutors dispute such allegations. They say they will call the CIA officer to testify. But they refuse to reveal his identity to defense lawyers. And in a highly unusual request, they've asked the judge to allow the CIA officer to don a "light disguise" while on the witness stand.
"This witness has been working for the CIA since 1991. The government has a duty to protect his identity," Assistant US Attorney Stephanie Pell told Judge Cooke in a recent pretrial hearing.
Padilla's lawyers disagreed. "For us to do our job, we have to know who this person is. We have to investigate," said Assistant Federal Public Defender Orlando do Campo. "We oppose the disguise. It is silly and disrespectful of this court."
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