Iyman Faris pleaded guilty. If he was illegally wiretapped, does that mean that he actually did not participate in this plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge? Should the question of whether or not he participated in this Brooklyn Bridge plot really be made to depend on the wiretapping issue? The legality of wiretapping is a serious issue. But surely no one would support the freeing of guilty mujahedin because that question is being debated…would they? “Terror operative seeks to rescind plea over NSA spying,” from CNN, :
WASHINGTON (CNN) — An Ohio truck driver and al Qaeda operative who pleaded guilty in 2003 to participating in a plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge wants to rescind that plea if the National Security Agency ever eavesdropped on him without a warrant.
Iyman Faris was sentenced to 20 years in prison in October 2003….
Attorney David Smith wants Faris’ May 1, 2003, guilty plea thrown out and is requesting “all documents relating to or concerning” electronic surveillance or any monitoring of Faris’ conversations “whether or not pursuant to warrant,” according to court filings.
Smith also wants documents from third-party conversations the government may have monitored in which Faris’ name is mentioned or in which he is “otherwise identified.”…
Based on media reports, it is likely that the government eavesdropped on Faris — with and without the backing of warrants — while the truck driver was a cooperating witness and being held under FBI supervision at a military base near Washington, D.C., Smith said.