Colorado terror hearing held behind closed doors
By The Associated Press
07.29.02
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DENVER — A federal magistrate rejected a request from two newspapers to open to the public a July 26 hearing for a man arrested in the government's terrorism investigation.
Magistrate Craig B. Shaffer said because James Ujaama is the subject of a pending grand jury investigation in Virginia, he had no choice but to turn down the requests by The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News to allow public access to a hearing for Ujaama.
The judge announced his rejection of the newspapers' request early on July 26 before holding the closed hearing later that day for Ujaama, 36, who was arrested by federal authorities on July 22.
Federal authorities speaking on condition of anonymity have said authorities think Ujaama, a U.S. citizen, took computer equipment to an al-Qaida terrorist camp in Afghanistan. They said authorities were also investigating whether he trained at the camp.
Ujaama's attorney Daniel Sears has said the July 26 hearing was scheduled to review the legality of detaining Ujaama. He did not return phone calls for comment on July 26, and federal authorities would not acknowledge a hearing was scheduled.
Sears said Ujaama has not been charged with any crime. Ujaama's brother Mustafa Ujaama said his brother was being held as a material witness to terrorist activity, but said his brother is not a terrorist.
Attorney Steve Zansberg, representing The Denver Post, told Shaffer the public has a right to know why Ujaama was being detained, especially in light of an April 30 ruling by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin of New York, who ruled that material witnesses cannot be jailed solely for a grand jury investigation.
Another federal judge in New York issued a ruling contrary to Scheindlin's on July 12, and the government is appealing her ruling.
Zansberg argued that issues likely to be discussed in the hearing would not affect the grand jury investigation.
Shaffer said a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., has ordered that all hearings involving Ujaama be closed to the public. He said the newspapers' request to open the hearing should have been filed in the Virginia court but acknowledged that the newspapers' attorneys could not have known about the order because it was sealed.
The brothers moved to Denver this month from Seattle. Mustafa Ujaama was detained briefly on July 22 when his brother was arrested.
The brothers were born James Ernest Thompson and Jon Thompson and grew up in Seattle.
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