CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The attorney for alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent Ali al-Marri said Tuesday he hopes what his client endured for five years will never again be repeated in the United States.
"Hopefully, I think you have seen the end of it," Andy Savage told reporters after his client, smiling and seemingly relaxed, appeared in federal court for an initial hearing on terror charges.
Al-Marri was turned over to civilian authorities earlier in the day, after being held in a nearby Navy brig as an enemy combatant without charge for more than five years.
President Barack Obama last month ordered al-Marri surrendered to civil authorities after he was indicted in Peoria, Ill., on federal charges of providing material support to terror and conspiracy.
The administration "sent a very strong message that it will not be tolerated that American citizens and lawful residents can be picked up without charge and held indefinitely," Savage said.
"It's as un-American as it can get. Thank God he's the only one who has suffered as much as anyone has," he added.
Al-Marri, a 43-year-old native of Qatar, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Carr he understood the charges and his rights. He is expected to enter a formal plea in Illinois. However, Savage will argue next week before Carr that Al-Marri should be released on bond.
Savage would not discuss who may testify or what they will say, but attorneys indicated the detention hearing could last half a day.
Until his transfer or release, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to keep al-Marri in a civilian cell at the Navy brig where he's been held since 2003. That will allow him more access to his attorneys than he had during his years of detention as an enemy combatant.
Al-Marri, with a long black beard flecked in gray, was handcuffed and wore a gray, hooded sweat shirt, gray sweat pants, and a close-fitting white cap during the 10-minute hearing.
Six U.S. marshals stood by the courtroom's back door during the hearing while four others stood directly behind the defense table.
Savage said his client was glad to get out of the brig, if only for a short time.
"He was very pleased to be outside and very pleased to be in a court environment but it was dark outside and he was disappointed he didn't get to see much of Charleston," Savage said.
Savage said he hoped two members of al-Marri's family will be able to come to Charleston to see him for the first time in years. He said his client is doing well, considering his long detention.
"You saw his characteristics — he's calm, he's collected, smiling, engaged and interested in what's going on," Savage said.
Al-Marri was studying at Bradley University in Peoria when he was arrested in late 2001 as part of the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks. He was initially indicted on fraud charges, which were dropped in 2003 when President George W. Bush declared him an enemy combatant.
The government has said al-Marri met with Osama bin Laden and volunteered for a suicide mission or whatever help al-Qaida wanted. He arrived in the U.S. the day before terrorists struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Al-Qaida leaders wanted al-Marri, a computer specialist, to wreak havoc on the U.S. banking system and to serve as a liaison for other al-Qaida operatives, according to a court document filed by Jeffrey Rapp, a senior member of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
The Supreme Court forced Obama to act in al-Marri's case when it decided in December — after the election, but before the transfer of power — to hear his challenge to being held as an enemy combatant. Several justices had indicated as early as 2006, in the detention case of U.S. citizen and former Chicago gang member Jose Padilla, that they were troubled by the Bush policy of holding people without charges on U.S. soil.
The court last week granted the Obama administration's request to dismiss al-Marri's challenge, just like it declined to hear Padilla's case.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the government has held two U.S. citizens — Louisiana native Yaser Hamdi was the other — and one legal resident, al-Marri, as enemy combatants. Hamdi was released in 2004 after the government said he no longer posed a threat to the United States and no longer had any intelligence value.
