Friday, August 8 2008

click on pic to zoom in

JFK suspects: JFK airport plot suspects from left Guyanese nationals Abdul Kadir and Russell De Freitas, Trinidadian Kareem Ibrahim and Abdel Nur, als...

Defence attorneys for the four men accused of plotting to blow up fuel lines at the John F Kennedy Airport, will soon be travelling to Trinindad and Guyana, to conduct their own investigations into the allegations levelled against their clients.

It was not until 12.08 pm that Russel De Freitas, Kareem Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir, and Abdel Nur, stood before United States Federal Court Judge Dora Irizarry. The men were ushered into the 4A court by Federal Court Marshalls. Nur was first in line, followed closely by a frail and thin Ibrahim. De Freitas and Kadir were third and fourth respectively. All the accused,with the exception of Ibrahim, wore tangerine coloured (bright orange)t-shirts and dark trousers. Ibrahim who appeared to be weak wore a pale blue shirt and trousers.

During the routine hearing which lasted just under an hour, Nur’s attorney Daniel Nobel, told the Judge that, some of the alleged activities occurred in Guyana and Trinidad, and defence counsel may have to travel to those countries to conduct investigations. “Your honour some of these conversations attributed to the accused allegedly occurred in Trinidad and Guyana. If there is a procedure for request for defence counsel to take up investigations at these locations we should put them in place.”

Justice Irizarry promptly replied, “I have been thinking about that; this is an unsual case and because of the complex circumstances, maybe there should be a case budgeting plan which can be set up ahead of time. The court will keep track of it, but not in a way to hinder the defence.”

Another critical issue which arose at the hearing, was Ibrahim’s refusal to take food.

Ibrahim’s attorney Michael Huston informed the court that he was seeking to have his client medically examined and evaluated.

Later Huston told a group of journalists that his client “was not eating for sometime and he had made an appointment with a medical doctor to see what could be the problem.” When pressed as to whether or not his client went on a hunger strike Huston quickly replied, “Mr Ibrahim is an old man; he was not eating I don’t know how long it lasted but I will not label it as hunger strike. There could be many reasons why he was not taking food, maybe he had a loss of appetite. He is taking some food now but I have to find out if the problem is physical or psycological.

“In about 45 days a court doctor will examine him and then we would get our own doctors to do the same.”

Another revelation was made to the court, this time that Kadir had not been in contact with his family for quite sometime. Kadir’s attorney Kassahni Nkrumah informed Justice Irizarry that Kadir’s relatives were of modest means, and were not able to pay heavy phone bills.

The men are being kept at the Metropolitan Detention Center,on 29th Street, 3rd Avenue Brooklyn.

Ibrahim, Kadir, Nur,and De Freitas, are charged with; conspiracy to attack a public transportation system;conspiracy to destroy a building with fire and explosives, conspiracy to attack an aircraft, and aircraft materials, conspiracy to destroy an international airport, specifically JFK; and conspiracy to attack a mass transportation facility. Kadir was additionally charged with the unlawful surveillance of a transportation facility.

A trial date was not set yesterday since all the concerns raised at the status hearing needed to be addressed. The matter was adjourned to September 19, 2008.