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WIRE: 04/05/2001 6:04 pm ET

Millennium terror conspiracy case goes to jury

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) The conspiracy case against an Algerian accused of smuggling explosives into the country went to the jury Thursday after prosecutors accused him of being a determined terrorist and the defense suggested he was an unwitting courier.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Hamilton told jurors to look at Ahmed Ressam's behavior after his arrest, efforts he went to in buying bomb timer components and the dozens of fingerprints he left everywhere.

"His plan was to tear down the very fabric of our society," Hamilton said.

Ressam, 33, who had lived in Canada since 1994, was arrested Dec. 14, 1999, after U.S. Customs inspectors at Port Angeles, Wash., found explosive materials and timers in the trunk of his rental car.

Ressam faces a sentence of up to 130 years in prison if convicted.

While not denying the car carried explosives, Ressam's public defender said he was not part of a conspiracy, even if one existed.

"You do not have any evidence, concrete, of what that was about and whether Ahmed Ressam knew anything about it," lawyer JoAnn Oliver said.

She said Ressam was "not a smooth, planned-out operator," but the victim of his co-defendant Abdelmajid Dahoumane, who "shadowed him every step of the way."

"When he's left alone to cross the border, with Mr. Dahoumane not shadowing him, he's not able to do anything right," Oliver said, adding later that "A person does not become a conspirator merely by associating with members of a conspiracy."

Algerian authorities say they have detained Dahoumane and will try him on charges of participating in terrorist groups.

The defense called only six witnesses before resting Wednesday.

They included a former FBI explosives expert, Frederick Whitehurst, who indicated the chemicals found would have required further work by someone to create an explosion.

Whitehurst said the absence of explosive residue in a motel room in Vancouver, British Columbia, was unusual if the chemicals were combined there, as the government alleged.

Two other defense witnesses said Ressam apparently had plane reservations to leave Seattle for London the day after his arrest, suggesting he was unwitting because he had no plans to use the explosives.

The government alleged the explosives were for attacks on West Coast sites and noted the arrest came shortly before millennium celebrations. Seattle canceled a celebration at the Space Needle after Ressam's arrest.

Prosecutors, however, told the jury at the outset that they did not intend to prove specific sites were targeted, but suggested that landmark buildings and airports were possible locations for attacks.

Ressam, who did not testify, was asked by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour on Wednesday if he knew he had a right to take the stand and had chosen not to do so. Ressam answered "yes" in Arabic to the judge's questions.

The prosecution had rested Tuesday after taking more than three weeks to build its case.

Prosecutors were not allowed to mention the name of Osama bin Laden or make references to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Bin Laden is the Saudi millionaire accused by the U.S. government of masterminding the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

Ressam is also on trial in absentia in Paris in a case alleging he was in an international network that provided false passports and other documents to Islamic extremists.

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- (news@of.note), April 06, 2001