A federal appeals court established a legal precedent Monday that U.S. citizens overseas can face searches without a warrant, ruling that three Osama bin Laden followers convicted in the deadly 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies received fair trials.
"There is nothing in our history or our precedents suggesting that U.S. officials must first obtain a warrant before conducting an overseas search," the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote.
The three-judge panel added, however, that the searches must meet the Fourth Amendment's requirement of reasonableness, saying an individual's expectation of privacy must be weighed against the government's need for certain information.
Defendant Wadih El-Hage of Arlington, Texas, had argued that his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures was violated when U.S. authorities searched his home in Nairobi, Kenya, and tapped his telephone lines without a warrant.
The appeals court responded that the searches' intrusion on El-Hage's "privacy was outweighed by the government's manifest need to monitor his activities as an operative of al-Qaida because of the extreme threat al-Qaida presented, and continues to present, to national security."
El-Hage, 48, was convicted in 2001 with three others in the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings at U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The attacks killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and prompted President Bill Clinton to launch cruise missiles on bin Laden's Afghan camps two weeks later.
The four men were charged with conspiracy and accused of playing key roles to carry out bin Laden's edict to kill Americans wherever they are found. All were sentenced to life in prison.
Besides El-Hage, the appeals court also upheld the convictions of Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, 31, and Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 43.
A fourth man convicted at the trial — Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 35 — had dropped his appeal after the trial jury decided against ordering the death penalty for the men convicted of direct roles in the bombings.
Bin Laden has been indicted in the case, which has revealed the inner workings of al-Qaida during weeks before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
El-Hage was described at trial as bin Laden's former personal secretary who served as head of the Nairobi al Qaida cell after bin Laden publicly declared holy war against the United States in 1996. Authorities said he conveyed a message from bin Laden in early 1997 directing the Nairobi cell to prepare for military activity.
Al-'Owhali rode in the bomb-carrying truck to the embassy in Nairobi, testimony showed. Mohamed helped to pack explosives and rode in the bomb truck to the embassy in Dar es Salaam.
Odeh joined al-Qaida in 1992 and was trained in explosives and small arms in Afghanistan training camps, trial evidence showed. Authorities said he advised the Nairobi cell on how to build and place the bomb to maximize fatalities.
Lawyers for Odeh and El-Hage said they will appeal Monday's decision to the Supreme Court. A lawyer for Al-'Owhali did not immediately respond to a message for comment.
Besides bin Laden and the four who were convicted, 17 others were indicted in the case. One of them, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, has been sentenced to 32 years in prison for stabbing a prison guard in the eye in Manhattan with a sharpened comb.
One is in custody in Guantanamo Bay, while two are in custody in United Kingdom.
One, Muhammad Atef, bin Laden's former military chief and the leading planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, was killed when the U.S. bombed Afghanistan in November 2001. Another defendant also has been killed.
Copyright 2008 AP News
