By Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 15 – Accusing of trafficking heroin to support the Haqqani network in Afghanistan, the US Attorney's Office on April 4, 2019 asked that defendant Haji Abdul Satar Abdul Manaf be admonished to tell his family members in Afghanistan not to threaten witnesses. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul Crotty was happy to do so, and set a control date 30 days out about discovery.
But an incongruity arose. It was said that Manaf can neither read nor write, yet the prosecutor referred to hundreds of text messages as being part of the discovery. Afterward, Inner City Press the only media present for the proceeding asked her to explain. She politely declined. Judge Crotty meanwhile asked Manaf's lawyer in what language she speaks with him - Urdu - then asked, You don't speak Pashtun?
Jump cut to July 5, 2024, when Manaf's white shoe counsel filed a motion in limine seeking to exclude his 2012 placement on the OFAC list and certain testimony of Dr. Tracia Bacon on the Taliban and Haqqani network.
On July 15, the US Attorney's Office wrote it reiterating they should be allowed to introduce Manaf's proffer statements - the signed agreement of which they've yet to find - "if he makes factual assertions or arguments contrary to those admissions."
Trial is set to begin July 22, 2024
The case is US v. Manaf, 18-cr-762 (Rakoff)
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