NEW YORK, 9 November 2003 — In a vindication of the government’s terrorism investigation, a federal appeals court on Friday reinstated charges against a Jordanian college student who knew two Sept. 11 hijackers and was accused of lying about one of them.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ordered perjury charges restored against Osama Awadallah, 23, a San Diego man who said he was mistreated by FBI agents and guards at federal jails before his case was thrown out in April 2002.
The appeals court said the government’s jailing of material witnesses for a grand jury investigation into the terrorist attacks was constitutional, overturning a ruling by Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan.
Robert J. Boyle, a lawyer for Awadallah, said he had not decided whether to appeal. He predicted Awadallah will be exonerated of the “silly perjury charges” at trial and noted that Awadallah was not suspected of criminal involvement in the attacks. “It is an unwarranted and unconstitutional expansion of the government’s arrest powers.”
US Attorney James B. Comey said the ruling lifted a dark cloud from “one of the most important tools in our Sept. 11 investigation and many others.” “Without this tool, we are much less safe,” he said.
“This opinion goes a long way to reassuring the American people that we are using the laws the way they are intended,” Comey said.
