A Jordanian charged with lying to a grand jury recited to a federal judge a list of alleged law-enforcement abuses at his pre-trial evidence-suppression hearing yesterday.
Osama Awadallah, 21, said he was physically abused by jail guards, denied access to a lawyer, forced to strip in front of women and denied food that complied with Islamic dietary laws.
He testified he was stopped on Sept. 21, 2001, by FBI agents outside his home in San Diego and questioned for several hours. He said he was allowed to return home that night after agreeing to a lie-detector test the next morning.
But when he tried to delay the polygraph until he could speak to a lawyer, agents told him [that] would mean he was hiding something and he would be arrested after they obtained a warrant, Awadallah testified.
“I find there is no choice but to take the test,” said Awadallah, who was informed by the FBI polygraph expert he failed the test. “I felt threatened and under great stress.”
Awadallah admitted to assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Baker that he was told the test was voluntary, that he had signed a consent form and that he was advised of his rights.
But Awadallah, who testified mostly in English with occasional help from a translator, said he didn’t completely understand the forms read aloud to him.
At the hearing, held before U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin, Awadallah and his attorney hope to exclude from the trial statements he made on the grounds they were not freely given.