Al-Moayad update. “Code Words for ‘Terror,'” from the New York Post, :
February 3, 2005 — Brooklyn jurors on the terror-financing case of a Yemeni sheik yesterday viewed secret tapes of him huddling with an assistant “” allegedly to create code words for weapons and ammunition.
Not knowing his German hotel room was wired, Sheik Mohammed Ali Hasan al-Moayad allegedly suggested to his assistant that instead of referring to a shortage of ammunition, they could say, “The corn is running low.”
“A person must be clever,” al-Moayad, 56, tells Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, 31, on the tape. “For example, if you wish to buy ammunition . . . ‘By God, Sheik Mohammed, we wish to buy corn. The corn is running low, should we buy it or what?'”…
On earlier tapes, jurors heard the sheik’s alleged boasts that he was Osama bin Laden’s spiritual adviser.
“He called me his sheik,” al-Moayad said, according to court transcripts. “I used to teach him some of the Islamic laws.”
Asked if he supported bin Laden “with money,” al-Moayad responded, “Yes, financially yes, and I sat with him like now.”
What can the defense say to this? What do you think?
Defense lawyers have challenged the accuracy of English translations provided by FBI interpreters.