November 27, 2001	Tuesday	Ramazan 11, 1422

AMMAN, Nov 26: US consul Les Hickman on Monday has refused to testify in the trial of a Jordanian-American suspected of membership in Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, the president of the state security court said.

Colonel Tayyel Raqqad read a statement from the US embassy spelling out Hickman’s refusal to testify at the resumption of the trial of Raed Hijazi, who is on trial on charges of conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks.

The US statement read in Arabic at the court said that Hickman has “diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention and therefore not obliged to testify at the request of the defence”.

Defence lawyer Tayssir Diab last month called on Hickman to appear before the state security court, claiming that the diplomat had “verified during prison visits (to Hijazi) signs of torture on Hijazi’s body”.

During one court session in October Hijazi showed journalists bruises on his right leg he said he sustained during questioning.

Hijazi, 32, a former Boston, Massachusetts cab driver, was sentenced to death in absentia last year during a trial of 28 Islamists accused of planning bomb attacks on Christian, Jewish and US targets in Jordan.

But the court acquitted all the defendants of membership in the Al Qaeda network of bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.

In line with Jordanian law he is now facing a new trial on the same charges, after his arrest in Syria last November and his extradition.

As he was led out of the court Monday, Hijazi poured scorn on the US embassy and shouted to journalists that Hickman refused to testify because “I am a Muslim and an Arab and they are against Muslims and Arabs.”

“It is unfair that the American authorities abandon me. They want, by all means, to prove me guilty,” said Hijazi, reiterating his innocence and denying any links to bin Laden.

His lawyers also criticised the US position and said they needed to review the case before pursuing his defence. A new session is set to be held December 3.

“The American position was not a surprise. Every Arab knows the American policies towards Arabs and Muslims which is always a policy of double standards,” defence lawyer Diab told reporters.

“It is enough to see US bias for Israel and therefore it is impossible for America, which claims to promote human rights, to offer its assistance to an Arab,” Diab said.—AFP