Over repeated objections from the defense yesterday, a federal judge at the terror financing trial of a Yemeni sheik permitted a witness to describe his time at a desolate Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan and visits there by Osama bin Laden. It was the spring of 2001, the witness, Yahya Goba, told the engrossed jurors. The trainees sang a welcoming song. Mr. bin Laden held forth “about the importance of unifying and jihad.” Technically, the witness had only a bit part in the Brooklyn trial where he made his appearance yesterday, testifying for the prosecutors at the trial of the sheik, Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, who is charged with providing material support to Al Qaeda and Hamas. But the repeated objections from the sheik’s chief lawyer, William H. Goodman, made it evident that the defense saw the discussion of Mr. bin Laden, just as the testimony in the case is about to end, as inflammatory. Prosecutors are expected to call their last witness this morning. Full Story
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