Judge upholds terror conviction despite doubts over US handling of case News
Judge upholds terror conviction despite doubts over US handling of case

[JURIST] A federal judge Wednesday refused to overturn the conviction of an aide to Osama bin Laden [JURIST news archive] despite expressing doubts about the US government's handling of its case. US District Judge Kevin Duffy, in a 109-page ruling, wrote that he had serious reservations in upholding the conviction of Wadih El-Hage [PBS profile] due to the suppression of evidence by the US Marshals Service [official website]. El-Hage and three others were convicted and sentenced to death in 2001 for conspiracy in the bombing of two US embassies in Africa that killed 224 people. El-Hage appealed the conviction, with his lawyers arguing that the government failed to provide them with videotaped interviews of Jamal al-Fadl, an al-Qaida member and the prosecution's top witness in the case. Defense lawyers received transcripts of 28 hours of interviews with al-Fadl more than 15 months after El-Hage was sentenced, but prosecutors said they did not find out about the existence of the videotapes until 2002. AP has more.