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The Associated Press, Nov. 1, 2005
FORT BLISS, Texas
An Afghan prisoner believed to be a top al-Qaida operative escaped from
a U.S.-run detention facility and cannot testify against the soldier who
allegedly mistreated him, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Omar al-Farouq, considered Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant in Southeast
Asia, escaped from a U.S. detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, in
July.
An Army lawyer for Sgt. Alan J. Driver, a reservist accused of abusing
Bagram detainees, asked Tuesday where al-Farouq was and what the Army had
done to find him in time for Driver's pretrial hearing.
Capt. John B. Parker, a prosecutor, said al-Farouq and three others escaped
from the Bagram detention center and have not been found.
"If we find him ... we will make him available," Parker said.
Capt. Michael Waddington, Driver's lawyer, also questioned a series of
witnesses during the pretrial hearing about who had access to al-Farouq,
specifically asking whether CIA had ordered military police officers to
do certain things to al-Farouq.
Prosecutors urged that the proceedings be closed to the media if Waddington
intended to continue questioning witnesses about "classified information."
Waddington told Lt. Col. Roger E. Nell, the presiding officer, that he
had only seen about half of the evidence and didn't know what was classified.
Al-Farouq could have been the first detainee to testify against a soldier
in the Afghanistan prisoner abuse case.
Driver, a reservist from the Ohio-based 377th Military Police Company,
is charged with maltreatment and assault of three detainees, including
one who later died, at the Bagram facility in 2002. He is accused of slamming
al-Farouq against a wall.
In earlier cases of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan, the alleged victims
either were dead or unidentified. Other alleged victims in Driver's case
also cannot testify. One was released from custody and cannot be found,
and the other has died.
Driver is one of 14 soldiers accused in the abuse investigation after two
detainees, Habibullah and Dilawar, died in American custody in 2002.
Military prosecutors had accused Driver of hitting Habibullah while he
was shackled in a cell.
During a preliminary hearing Tuesday, lawyers and an independent investigator
heard testimony from several witnesses who said they saw Driver mistreat
detainees.
Lt. Col. Roger E. Nell, the investigator, will recommend whether the case
should be taken to trial or the charges should be reduced or dropped.
Six soldiers have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to abuse charges.
Two soldiers, both reservists from Driver's unit, were acquitted.
Charges against another reservist were dropped.
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