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The Ledger - February 3, 2004
Judge won't force prosecutors
to translate tapes in Al-Arian case
TAMPA, Fla. A federal judge refused to force prosecutors to translate evidence in the case of a former University of South Florida professor accused of having ties to Palestinian terrorists.
Federal public defenders representing Sami Al-Arian co-defendant Hatim Naji Fariz had argued that prosecutors should translate the mostly Arabic-language tapes of wiretap recordings. Lawyers also expect to receive numerous documents in Hebrew.
The public defender's office has declined to finance a team of translators. U.S. Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun III issued an order Monday (2/2/2004) saying prosecutors are not required to provide the translations. He repeated an earlier directive that the U.S. Attorney's Office provide summaries of about 800 tapes deemed particularly relevant.
McCoun also refused to allow Al-Arian and another defendant, Sameeh Hammoudeh, to use defense support staff and related resources paid for by taxpayers. These resources are being provided to Fariz and another defendant, Ghassan Zayed Ballut.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040203/APN/402030848
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