Six Miami Workers Face Third 'Terrorism' Trial


Six Miami workers face third ‘terrorism’ trial

BY OMARI MUSA
Reprinted From the Militant

MIAMI—After two mistrials on charges of “terrorist conspiracy,” six construction workers, known as the Liberty Six, will soon face a third trial on the same charges.
Jury selection began January 27 for the six young Black men.
Narseal Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Rotschild Augustine, Burston Augustin, and Naudimar Herrera were charged with conspiring to aid al-Qaeda and conspiring to blow up the Chicago Sears Tower and FBI buildings.

Their first two trials ended in hung juries. Their arrests were announced June 2006 by then-attorney general Alberto Gonzales at a Washington, D.C., news conference amid great fanfare. He claimed the men formed a “homegrown” terrorist cell. The arrests were hailed as part of the fight against “terrorism.”

A seventh man, Lyglenson Lemorin, was acquitted after the first trial in December 2007. After his acquittal, Lemorin was immediately jailed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the same charges and faces deportation to Haiti. He is a legal U.S. resident.

The seven are members of a religious group, Seas of David, which held meetings in Liberty City, a large Black community in Miami.

The government’s case rests on the activities of two FBI informants, Elie Assad and Abbas al-Saidi, a Liberty City shopkeeper. Assad identified himself to Batiste as a representative of Osama bin Laden. The government accuses the six men of taking an oath of loyalty to bin Laden—an oath administered by Assad.

Assad also persuaded some of the men to take photos of “target” sites in Miami. The camera was given to the defendants by Assad.

Both Assad and al-Saidi had done previous service as government informers. The government snitches had bankrolled rent on the warehouse and had it fitted with hidden cameras and microphones. Both were paid more than $130,000 plus hotel and expenses for their work.

The political character of the frame-up as an attempt to bolster lagging public support for the “war on terrorism” was noted by Jeffrey Agron in an interview with the Miami Herald. Agron was the jury foreperson in the first trial.

“There are people who are skeptical and are probably even more skeptical about what has been done in the war on terror, Agron said. “The passage of time and two mistrials will play into that.” Referring to the two mistrials he said, “I don’t see the third trial turning out much different.” Referring to the jury for the third trial, the foreperson in the second trial, José Talavera, said, “They will want to see more, but it’s not enough. We never saw any intentions by the group to do anything.”