Three held in San Diego as witnesses in attacks investigation

By BEN FOX
Associated Press Writer

SAN DIEGO – Three men who authorities believe knew some of the suspects in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have been detained as material witnesses, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.

The men were arrested over the weekend after authorities determined they knew two of the suspected hijackers and were unlikely to testify willingly before a grand jury, the official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The three could be sent to testify before a grand jury in New York, the official said.

Shoppers in the parking lot of an electronics store cheered and applauded as FBI agents arrested one of the men Saturday, the official said.

A court hearing was scheduled Tuesday to decide whether there is enough evidence to hold the men. U.S. District Magistrate Judge Ruben B. Brooks, citing national security, ordered the hearing closed and barred attorneys from commenting on the case.

The three men, all in their 20s, were identified as Modhar Abdallah of Yemen and roommates Osama Awadallah of Jordan and Yazeed Al-Salmi of Saudi Arabia.

Before the gag order was issued, attorney Randall Hamud, who is representing Awadallah and Abdallah, said his clients are innocent, though he acknowledged they knew suspected hijacker Nawaq Alhamzi.

The three men lived in an apartment complex in the San Diego suburb of La Mesa with Omer Bakarbashat, who is being held in New York for questioning about Alhamzi and another suspected hijacker, Khalid Al-Midhar.

Awadallah and Al-Salmi are students at Grossmont College, according to Dana Quittner, a spokeswoman for the community college in La Mesa.

Hamud said his clients were being held in isolation in a special ward with the mentally ill at a federal jail in downtown San Diego and were denied visits with family. A supervisor at the Metropolitan Correctional Center declined to confirm whether the men were there.

Hamud said his clients had cooperated with investigators.

"They should not be stigmatized and they should not be sitting in orange-colored jumpsuits," Hamud told The San Diego Union-Tribune. "Their crime was they voluntarily cooperated with the FBI. This is the most significant attack on our legal process since the Japanese were interned here in the 1940s."

In a statement, Awadallah's family expressed its support and desire to visit him. "It is his family's position that they will do whatever it takes to assist the authorities in their investigation," the statement said.

The family did not return phone messages seeking further comment.

APNP-09-25-01 1601CDT