E-mails, phone calls on exhibit list for Ohio man's trial
6/9/2007COLUMBUS - Phone calls and e-mails were passed among three Ohio men accused in separate terrorism plots, according to government records that also show the men took trips together and that one man used another for a job reference.
The U.S. Attorney's Office filed an exhibit list of 102 items in federal court ahead of the August trial of Nuradin Abdi, charged with plotting to blow up an unspecified, Columbus-area shopping mall. No such plot was carried out.
The list includes references to meetings, phone calls, and trips the government has previously alleged in various court filings. Put together, the exhibits provide one of the first comprehensive glimpses of the evidence federal prosecutors may present against Mr. Abdi.
Mr. Abdi, 35, sent e-mails in 2001 and 2002 to a man convicted of trying to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, according to the list filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Columbus.
An e-mail on July 31, 2001, from Mr. Abdi to Iyman Faris showed Web sites for night vision equipment and anti-surveillance equipment, according to the list.
E-mails on Oct. 28, 2002, from Mr. Abdi to Faris contain information on an exhortation to holy war and "Islamic extremist information," the list shows. Faris, 38, was sentenced in 2003 to 20 years for the plot to topple the Brooklyn Bridge.
Some of Faris' phone bills were found in Mr. Abdi's residence, according to the list.
Mr. Abdi also called phone numbers for Christopher Paul, an Ohioan accused of joining al-Qaeda and plotting to bomb European resorts, and took a trip with him to Pittsburgh in September, 2002. He also listed Mr. Paul, 43, as a reference on a 2001 job application.