Chicago Tribune national correspondent Evan Osnos reports on the pre-trial testimony of Osama Awadallah, who faces federal perjury charges. Excerpt:
Awadallah, a permanent U.S. resident whose trial is set to begin May 20, testified that the government’s intimidation began with his earliest conversations with the FBI on Sept. 20, when, he said, 15 to 20 agents pressured him into an interview at FBI offices without an attorney. The following morning, he said, authorities also dissuaded him from bringing an attorney to a polygraph test.
The agent said, “`Look, you don’t need your lawyer. It’s going to be a short test,'” said Awadallah, a college student. “`You are going to take it and go back to your home and we won’t bother you anymore.'”
In earlier testimony, several FBI agents had estimated the total number of FBI and local police officials to be less than 10 at the time of Awadallah’s initial contact. They also testified that they repeatedly told Awadallah he was not under arrest.
After the polygraph test on Sept. 21, Awadallah said, agents told him he had lied on a question that indicated prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 plot.
“They told me, `You did it. You are one of the terrorists,'” Awadallah said during questioning by his attorney Jesse Berman.
Polygraph “testing” is often little more than a cynical ploy to interrogate a suspect without the benefit of legal counsel, as seems to have been the case here. The suspect is deliberately misled into believing that he is simply agreeing to submit to a scientific test, but is surprised with a hostile interrogation after being informed that he “failed” the “test.”