By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Song I, II, III
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Sept 28 – Delowar Mohammed Hossain is set to be tried for attempted material support to the Taliban. The trial is set to begin on September 28, weeks after the Taliban again took over Kabul in Afghanistan. From the July 2019 Complaint:
HOSSAIN: "Pakistan is a country that support jihad... Pakistan has a good relationship with the Taliban of Afghanistan. If we look over there once we go there..."
Then Hossain was arrested at JFK airport. He has been out on home detention and on the eve of trial asked to delay it based on racial disparities in the jury, because inactive voters were removed from the jury pool. Inner City Press will be reporting on the trial - live.
"ORDER as to Delowar Mohammed Hossain: The Court has been advised that the Ad Hoc Committee on the Resumption of Jury Trials has scheduled the trial of this matter to commence on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 1. The final pretrial conference is adjourned from August 2 to September 24, 2021, at 12:00 p.m. in Courtroom 23A; and 2. The trial of this action is scheduled for Wednesday, September 29, 2021, at 9:30 a.m. (Signed by Judge Sidney H. Stein on 6/4/2021)."
But during the pendency, there have been changes including the return to power in Afghanistan of the Taliban. On September 19, the US Attorney's Office wrote to Judge Stein that it had now been unable to reach a stipulation with the defense about the Taliban's status as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Is it any surprise?
On September 21, as the Taliban belatedly asked for UN credentials, Inner City Press went to cover Judge Stein's in-person conference on the motions in limine. Judge Stein said that the government's Taliban expert could testify, without any Daubert hearing before it. He said questions could be raised on cross examination, or in voir dire of the witness.
Hossain's Federal Defender said he wants to see the receipts of payments to confidential sources, particularly one listed as having committed an "unauthorized illegal action," the assault of a bodega owner. Did the source pay his taxes?
Back on July 20, Judge Stein respecting the practice of religion granted Hossain a modification of bail conditions, to leave his home at 4 am to attend a religious ritual at a butcher shop "to celebrate Eid al-Adha, an Islamic holiday that commemorates Abraham's near sacrifice of one of his sons at God's behest." Photo here.
The case is US v. Hossain, 19-cr-606 (Stein)
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