Judy Miller Could be Called to Testify in Terror Case

Miller Could be Called to Testify in Terror Case
By E&P Staff
Published: October 18, 2005 5:38 PM ET
CHICAGO

Lawyers want to haul New York Times reporter Judith Miller into yet another federal courthouse, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday -- but this time the subject has nothing to do with Valerie Plame.

Defense attorneys say the government should have the reporter take the stand in the case of Muhammad Salah, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was living in suburban Chicago when he was accused along with two other Palestinians of conspiring to funnel money to the Middle Eastern terrorist group Hamas. The defense wants to prevent the prosecution from using several alleged confessions in their case against Salah.

Sun-Times staff reporters Annie Sweeney and Lisa Donovan reported that a filing in U.S. District Court in Chicago by Salah's attorneys alleges that Salah was beaten, threatened with rape and forced to sit handcuffed in a painful condition during interrogations by Israeli soldiers in 1993. Salah signed several incriminating statements and spoke on an audio tape saying the confessions were true, according to the filing.

"In an odd twist, the interrogation was witnessed by embattled New York Times reporter Judith Miller, and defense attorneys suggested Monday the best way for the U.S. government to prove its case -- and prove Salah wasn't abused -- is to call the controversial journalist to the witness stand," the Sun-Times story says.

The report quoted one of Salah's attorneys, Michael E. Deutsch of Chicago, as saying the defense believes the government is going to call Miller.

In a strange bit of irony, Patrick Fitzgerald -- who as special prosecutor successfully fought to get Miller to testify before a grand jury in the Plame matter -- is the U.S. attorney prosecuting Salah in Chicago.

The newspaper said Miller could not be reached, and a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.

But the newspaper added that in 1998, Miller told the Sun-Times "Salah did not appear to be a man under duress when questioned and that she believed his recanted statements."
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E&P Staff ([email protected])

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