Prosecution Rests in Terrorism Plot Trial in New York
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NEW YORK — The government rested its case Tuesday against three Middle Eastern militants charged with scheming to bomb a dozen U.S. jetliners in Asia in a terror spree aimed at swaying American support for Israel.
The defense opened its case with Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who will later be tried separately as the alleged mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing. Yousef acted as his own attorney and called an FBI agent to the stand.
U.S. District Judge Kevin T. Duffy rejected motions by defense attorneys to dismiss all charges against Yousef and his co-defendants. He also suggested that the three-month trial would have to finish soon because some jurors have told him they must return to school.
Prosecutors allege Yousef and co-defendants Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah plotted to bomb a dozen planes in the Far East over two days in January 1995 to scare the United States into shifting its policy toward Israel.
The attacks were never carried out.
If convicted of conspiracy, the defendants could face life in prison.
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