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Moussaoui wants testimony from HambaliGovernment is expected to oppose motion
By Phil Hirschkorn
(CNN) -- Zacarias Moussaoui has asked his trial judge for access to another high-ranking captured al Qaeda leader, this time the man known as Hambali, who is recognized as the terror group's top operative in Southeast Asia. Moussaoui, in a motion to U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, said the testimony of "Brother Hambali," an Indonesian national also known as Riduan Isamuddin, would "destroy" the government's theory that Moussaoui intended to pilot a hijacked plane into the White House. Moussaoui, who is representing himself with the assistance of court-appointed counsel, filed the motion August 20, just days after Hambali's capture in Thailand. Brinkema unsealed the motion Monday. The government is certain to oppose it, as it has opposed with little success Moussaoui's previous motions for access to detainees. The disputes have indefinitely delayed his trial. The United States, which gave Thailand a $10 million reward to distribute to officers and agencies involved in Hambali's arrest, is holding Hambali at an undisclosed location overseas. Although Hambali is suspected of being responsible for planning the lethal bombing of a Bali nightclub last year and the bombing of a Marriott hotel in Jakarta this summer, the United States has not let Indonesian authorities interrogate him. The prosecutors oppose letting Moussaoui depose detainees, saying such actions would disrupt their interrogations and subvert the president's constitutional powers as commander in chief to conduct the war on terrorism. But Brinkema has ordered that the government make available Ramzi Binalshibh, a suspected planner of the September 11 attacks; Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the reputed architect of the attacks; and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, an alleged financier of the 19 hijackers. The judge has said their videotaped depositions are necessary for Moussaoui to have a fair trial, in part because classified summaries of their testimony indicate that they could exonerate Moussaoui of the most serious charges against him -- that he had a role in the September 11 conspiracy, which he denies -- or could spare him the death penalty. The government's refusal of orders to produce the witnesses has forced the judge to impose sanctions that could led to the dismissal of the indictment Brinkema's decision on sanctions could come in October, and the government plans to appeal her rulings. Moussaoui, 35, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, acknowledges belonging to al Qaeda and intending to participate in a post-September 11 plot outside the United States. Prosecutors have alleged in closed court hearings that Moussaoui, who attended two flight schools in the United States in 2001 but failed to obtain a pilot's license, wanted to crash a jetliner into the White House, As evidence of Moussaoui's intentions, prosecutors cite the deposition of another al Qaeda operative, Faiz Bafana, whom Moussaoui visited in Malaysia in 2000. Moussaoui "talked freely when inside Bafana's home about a dream he had to fly an airplane into the White House," according to a court document summarizing his testimony. Bafana and Hambali deemed Moussaoui to be "paranoid" and "cuckoo," the document said. Moussaoui was jailed on an immigration violation a month before the September 11 attacks. Brinkema has denied as too vague his requests for access to captured al Qaeda leaders Abu Zubaydah and Ibn Shaiykh al-Libi, who had leading roles running the paramilitary training camps in Afghanistan that Moussaoui allegedly attended in 1998.
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