NY perjury trial closes for Jordanian in 9/11 case

New York, Nov 17: A Jordanian detained in the days following the September 11 attacks lied 13 times to a US grand jury about knowing one of the hijackers, federal prosecutors said at the close of the man's perjury retrial.

''He kept telling the lie until he realized he couldn't get away with telling it anymore,'' US prosecutor Karl Metzner told a jury yesterday at the retrial of Osama Awadallah, who faces a combined maximum of 10 years in prison on two perjury counts.

Awadallah's case has been thrown out, reinstated and forced into a mistrial since Sept. 11, 2001, when his name and phone number were found in a car that two hijackers abandoned at Washington's Dulles International Airport before helping to take over the jet that crashed into the Pentagon.

Awadallah first testified to the grand jury less than a month after the attacks that he did not know hijacker Khalid al-Midhar.

But five days later, he changed his story to say he knew al-Midhar only in passing as a friend of fellow hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi, who briefly worked at the same San Diego gas station as Awadallah.

Awadallah's lawyer, Jesse Berman, said his client was ''confused'' and ''paranoid'' during his initial testimony from 20 days of detention and severe physical abuse.

''His desire to correct his mistakes showed that he had no desire to mislead,'' Berman said. ''Both of these men were nothing to him.'' Awadallah, 26, suffered severe weight loss from being denied food while held in federal detention centers in the days after the attacks and had scores of bruises from repeated beatings and anal searches, Berman said.

Metzner said that Awadallah received medical attention and saw an orthopedist immediately after accusing prison guards of abuse.

''He said nothing that day about having any trouble,'' Metzner said, calling him ''composed'' and ''attentive,'' although ''a bit nervous'' during his first testimony on October. 10, 2001.

The case has helped draw attention to the US government's post-September. 11 detention and treatment of those who were not charged criminally but might be called to testify as witnesses.

The judge threw out the initial perjury case against Awadallah in 2002, finding the government was unlawfully detaining him. An appeals court overturned that ruling in November 2003.

In May, a jury deadlocked on whether Awadallah lied about knowing al-Midhar, a Saudi Arabian, forcing a mistrial.

Reuters