Judge grants request for anonymous jury in al Qaeda terrorist’s trial

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/06/21/judge-grants-request-for-anonymous-jury-in-al-qaeda-terrorists-trial/

Judge grants request for anonymous jury in al Qaeda terrorist’s trial
By Lia Eustachewich
June 21, 2016 | 7:08pm

A Brooklyn federal judge has ordered that an anonymous jury will be impaneled in the upcoming trial of an al Qaeda terrorist — charged with killing US servicemen in Afghanistan — who has already threatened prosecutors and court employees.

Judge Brian Cogan wrote that there was a “serious need to protect the jury” given, in part, Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun’s “profound lack of respect for the judicial proceedings” — including threatening to kill prosecutors and court employees, as well as shouting obscenities during hearings.

Harun, who went by the nom de guerre “Spin Ghul” which means “White Rose” as a terrorist from 2001 to 2011, is also charged with plotting to bomb US government facilities in Nigeria.

He was arrested in Italy in 2011 and extradited to the US a year later.

Cogan granted the prosecutors’ motion for an anonymous jury but denied their request to have the panel be sequestered during breaks and escorted to the courthouse each day by US marshals.

The judge also wrote that potential jurors’ fear of retaliation from Harun — who is in solitary confinement — or other al Qaeda associates may impede their ability to serve.

Harun’s trial is currently scheduled to begin next February.

The jihadist’s bad behavior has raised questions over his mental health — he’s refused to come to court or cooperate with his own attorneys.

An anonymous jury was recently used in the Brooklyn terror trial for Tairod Pugh, the US Air Force vet convicted in March of trying to join ISIS.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/03/06/accused-al-qaeda-terrorist-was-a-no-show-on-first-day-of-trial/

Accused al Qaeda terrorist was a no-show on first day of trial
By Reuven Fenton
March 6, 2017 | 3:47pm | Updated

Ibarhim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun
USDOJ


An accused terrorist blew off the first day of his trial in Brooklyn on Monday, as prosecutors told jurors that the defendant “embraced terror at a young age and made it his life’s work.”

Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun declined to show up at his federal trial, prompting the court to set up a video camera — to the left of Judge Brian Cogan ​— that’d allow the defendant to see lawyers delivering opening statements.

Two interpreters quietly spoke into microphones near the camera, translating lawyers’ statements into Arabic for Harun​, ​who had a closed-circuit TV put in his cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.

Cogan admonished jurors to ignore Harun’s absence and said he has the right not to attend the trial.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Harun bothered to watch or listen to the proceedings against him.

Prosecutor Matthew Jacobs held up a picture of a smirking Harun for jurors and told them this was the face of a terrorist who killed two US servicemen near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in 2003.

“The defendant is an Al Qaeda terrorist whose mis​​sion was to kill Americans,” Jacobs said. “The defendant embraced terror at a young age and made it his life’s work.”

Harun grew up in Saudi Arabia and moved to Afghanistan to join terrorist groups before 9/11, according to prosecutors,

He was living in an al-Qaeda guesthouse when 9/11 happened and celebrated with fellow terrorist when the attack was carried out, Jacobs told jurors.

Jerry Dennis, the father of Jerod Dennis.
Natan Dvir


And following the US invasion of Afghanistan, Harun — who took the name Spin Ghul while fighting for al-Qaeda — moved to a town near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to take on Americans.

“He fought US soldiers, young men and women who bravely put their own lives at risk half a world away so we could be safe here,” Jacobs said​.​

Then in April 2003, US soldiers went to investigate a hilltop which they believed was a missile launch site.

Harun and his goons were allegedly waiting in ambush.

“The defendant had a machine gun and grenades, and fired the machine gun while shouting `Allahu akbar!’ Then he threw the grenades and watched them explode,” Jacobs said.

The attack wounded five American soldiers and killed two — Jerod Dennis, 19, and Raymond Losano, 24.

Loved ones of both victims were in court on Monday.

“The defendant, on the other hand, lived and remained as committed to terrorism as ever,” Jacobs said.

“He had bigger plans, ambitions to killer even more Americans and even on a larger scale.”

Jacobs promised jurors they’d hear Harun’s own words, confessing to all his alleged crimes.

Defense lawyer Susan Kellman asked jurors to remember that Harun gets the presumption of innocence.

“The government’s portrait sets a tone… a tone made to inflame, a tone meant to misdirect your judgement,” Kellman said of Jacobs’ opening remarks.

She implored jurors to “sift through the prejudices that come from words like, `al-Qaeda,’ ‘Osama Bin Laden,’ ‘Terrorism,’ ‘9/11.’ ”

Kellman conceded that her client is an al Qaeda member, but asked them not to translate his “world view” into an automatic conclusion of “actual terrorism.”

“Don’t misunderstand me. Our client pledged his allegiance to al Qaeda and al Qaeda is a designated foreign terrorist organization,” she said.

“I ask you not to close your eyes to the truth of the case. Mr. Harun does not share your world view, but is that enough to convict him?”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/03/09/koran-found-near-ambush-was-covered-in-jihadists-prints-prosecutors/

Koran found near ambush was covered in jihadist’s prints: prosecutors
By Emily Saul
March 9, 2017 | 1:18pm

Ibarhim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun and the Koran found in his possession and submitted to evidence. USDOJ


A small discolored Koran belonging to an al Qaeda insurgent accused of killing two US servicemen was shown to jurors at his Brooklyn trial Thursday — and prosecutors say it should be enough to put him away for life.

Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun’s prints all over the religious text, putting him at the scene of his terrorist crime in Afghanistan in 2003, authorities say.

The Muslim holy book somehow remained unbloodied during the early-morning ambush on a hilltop near the border of Pakinstan, where US soldiers were hit with bullets, grenades, and shrapnel.

Forensic experts lifted Harun’s print from the small book after it was turned over to authorities.

Harun, on federal trial for the slayings of Airman Raymond Losano and Pvt. Jerrod Dennis, watched Thursday’s proceeding by video, as he has repeatedly declined to attend the trial in person. He has admitted to belonging to al Qaeda.

His case is being heard in Brooklyn federal court because suspects charged with conspiring to murder US nationals overseas can be charged anywhere, and Eastern District prosecutors are especially experienced in terror cases.

Various servicemen testified Wednesday that the Koran was discovered in the jacket of Harun’s cohort, who was also killed during the firefight April 25, 2003.

It was collected along with AK-47 magazines, prayer beads, a knife, and a notebook from the unnamed terrorist’s remains.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/03/16/jury-convicts-al-qaeda-member-​for-killing-two-us-soldiers/

Jury convicts al Qaeda member ​for killing two US soldiers
By Priscilla DeGregory and Kaja Whitehouse
March 16, 2017 | 4:38pm | Updated

Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun


A Brooklyn federal jury took just two hours to convict an al Qaeda terrorist nicknamed “White Rose” for murdering two American soldiers in Afghanistan.

Ibrahim Harun, 46 — who refused to attend his trial — was found guilty Thursday on five counts, including conspiracy to murder Raymond Losano, 24, of Texas, and Army Pvt. Jerod Dennis, 19, of Oklahoma, during fighting in Afghanistan in 2003.

Harun was also found guilty of conspiring to blow up the American Embassy in Nigeria with the goal of killing everyone inside.

“Fortunately, that plan failed,” prosecutor Melody Wells said in her closing remarks.

Harun, who went by the name Spin Ghul (“White Rose”) , faces life in prison when he is sentenced on June 22.

The two-week trial was unusual due to Harun’s complete absence from the courtroom — and the defense’s decision to not put on a case. The admitted al Qaeda member could watch the trial via a one-way video feed from his jail cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan — but the jury could not see him.

“He’s not cooperating,” defense lawyer Susan Kellman explained. “Our position is he’s not competent. It’s hard to reason with someone like that.”

From the government, the jury heard emotional testimony from an Air Force veteran who recalled the moment he saw his fellow airmen Losano getting shot in the head.

“There was nowhere to hide,” Master Sgt. Lee Blackwell told the jury about the chaotic scene near the Afghan-Pakistan border that Losano dead.

“I picked him up, screaming for the medic. Ray was clawing at me,” Blackwell said. “I told him I loved him, I was proud of him, and I told him to hang in there.”

The jury also heard disturbing audio recordings from Harun, who admitted he has wanted to be a terrorist since he was a tot.

“It started out long ago, all the way back to my elementary schools days when I began to understand things at the time of the Afghan war against the soviets,” Harun said in a Sept. 14, 2011 audio recording. “That’s when I first decided to join jihad.”

In later tapes, Harun admitted to attacking Americans.

“At that time there was a grenade in my hand and I took that grenade and threw it at them,” Harun said of an early attack in his jihadi career. “I threw it directly at them and it blew up in between them. At that point, I am certain that both of them were injured.”

Kellman said she is seeking to dismiss certain counts.

“Can you really charge someone for being a combatant in a war zone?” Kellman said outside of court. “The real issue here is not a factual one. It’s a legal one,” Kellman said. “The facts aren’t in dispute because, our client made a full confession,” she said.

Harun was born in Saudi Arabia but claims citizenship in Niger. He was first apprehended in 2005 in Libya, but released in June 2011.

Italian authorities then busted him after he assaulted officers on board a refugee ship bound for Italy. One year later, in Oct. 2012, he was extradited from Italy to the US and charged with terrorist activities on behalf of al-Qaeda since before Sept. 11th.