Guantanamo case halted over lawyers
MIAMI -- A military judge on Friday placed an indefinite hold on proceedings at the Guantanamo Bay naval base against a Saudi accused in an attack on a U.S. warship.
Air Force Col. Vance Spath ordered an abatement of the military commission for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, saying he needed a higher civilian or military court to weigh in on a series of legal issues that emerged with the decision by most of the defense team to quit the case. No further hearings will be held, under Spath's order.
Al-Nashiri is accused of orchestrating the deadly October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 sailors and wounded 37. He could get the death penalty if convicted by the commission.
Last fall, the most senior member of al-Nashiri's legal team resigned because of a violation of attorney-client privilege. Two other defense attorneys also left the case.
Spath ruled there was no violation of the attorney-client privilege and directed the lawyers to resume their work with the case. They have refused.
Sentence is life for Afghan terrorism
NEW YORK -- A self-described al-Qaida "warrior" who was in a firefight in Afghanistan that left two U.S. servicemen dead refused to attend his sentencing Friday, at which a judge ordered him to serve life in prison.
"I can't think of a more serious crime," U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan said as he announced the sentence for Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Harun in a Brooklyn courtroom, where a monitor showing the entrance to Harun's cell rested near his lawyers. Harun also had refused to attend his trial last year.
The judge rejected Harun's claim that he was more a soldier than a terrorist and should face a military tribunal instead of a civilian court.
A jury last March convicted Harun, 47, after prosecutors said he confessed while in Italian custody that he threw a grenade and shot at an American military unit in a 2003 ambush.
Harun, a Saudi-born defendant who claims Niger citizenship, later masterminded a failed plot to bomb a U.S. embassy in Nigeria, the government said.
Puerto Rico utility seeks $300M loan
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A federal control board urgently sought a $300 million loan for Puerto Rico's power company on Friday after a judge rejected a previous $1 billion loan request despite warnings the U.S. territory would have to start rationing electricity.
The latest request comes as nearly 400,000 power customers across the island remain in the dark more than five months after Hurricane Maria hit the island, causing the longest blackout in U.S. history.
The board said Puerto Rico will have to reduce power generation and personnel if it does not obtain the funds by Tuesday. It also said Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority is in jeopardy and that $300 million would only allow the company to operate until late March.
A Section on 02/17/2018