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| June 23, 2005 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1426 |
Pakistanis enter ‘not guilty’ plea in terrorism case
SAN FRANCISCO, June 22: Defence attorneys entered not guilty pleas on Tuesday in Sacramento federal court on behalf of Pakistani-American Hamid Hayat and his father Umer Hayat, who are charged with lying to FBI agents about their terrorist ties.
During the brief hearing the two men did not speak and sat cuffed and shackled, wearing orange jail jumpsuits, as their pleas were entered by their attorneys.
After the hearing, Umer Hayat’s attorney, Johnny Griffin III, told a crowd of reporters that he is frustrated, because his client has been labelled a terrorist by the government, painted as a terrorist, but not charged as a terrorist.”
“If he is a terrorist, I want to see the evidence as soon as possible,” Griffin said. “If there is no evidence, quit saying it.”
Hamid Hayat, 22, is charged with lying to the FBI earlier this month when he said he did not attend a terrorism training camp in Pakistan in 2003 and 2004. He was indicted last week on two counts of lying to the FBI.
Umer Hayat, 47, was indicted on a single count of lying to investigators when he denied that his son had attended such camps. The FBI said the elder Hayat later admitted flying his son to Pakistan and paying for the camp, which was run by the friend of a relative.
Another hearing was scheduled for next Friday to determine whether the government will release all the evidence the defence is requesting, including why the younger Hayat was listed on a federal “no fly” list while travelling to San Francisco on South Korean Airlines last month. His inclusion on the list led to the diversion to Japan. At that time he was only identified as a US citizen of Pakistani descent.
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