By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Oct 15 – Haji Najibullah was arraigned in November 2020 on charges of having kidnapped and held hostage American journalist David Rohde from November 10, 2008 to July 2009 in Afghanistan, demanding the release of Taliban prisoners and money from Rohde's family.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Katherine Polk Failla held the arraignment. Inner City Press covered it.
Najibullah had been captured in Ukraine, and presented before SDNY Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang on October 28, 2020. He was assigned a Federal Defender, Mark Gombiner; he was been informed of his rights of the Due Process Protections Act.
Jump cut nearly a year later on October 15, 2021, when Najibullah and Gombiner appeared again before Judge Failla. Inner City Press again covered it. Judge Failla admonished Gombiner not to give speeches for the media. But he argued about the absurdity of a country bombing another, then calling the fight-back a crime. He also questioned how the US gave only 200 documents under discovery.
Judge Failla said she envisioned a defense motion to compel and a CIPA motion from the US, and urged that the parties confer. The next conference is November 18.
It is US v. Najibullah, 14-cr-401 (Failla)
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