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 Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 40, sued the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of
Prisons, arguing he has been unfairly prevented from contacting
certain friends and relatives, including one of his brothers, in
violation of his free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Mohamed, a Tanzanian national, is jailed at the so-called Supermax
penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, which houses the most dangerous
criminals in the federal penal system. He is only allowed to
communicate with certain individuals on an approved list.
The federal government argued Mohammed, as an admitted militant,
continues to pose a threat to the United States.
The case went to trial last month in Denver federal court.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger ruled the
restrictions imposed on Mohamed’s communications were arbitrary “and
unsupported by substantial evidence” presented at trial.
Mohamed was one of several conspirators indicted for the 1998 U.S.
embassy bombing in Kenya, and confessed to an FBI agent about his
role in the plot. The judge mentioned in her ruling that he also
attended an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in 1994, where he
learned explosives, weapons and religious training.
Mohamed told authorities that according to his understanding of
Islam, it was his responsibility to take part in the embassy
bombing.
Krieger said she was not persuaded by trial testimony from an FBI
agent that Mohamed has engaged in hunger strikes, made disparaging
remarks about the United States and made false accusations against
prison staff.
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The examples federal officials gave of such conduct by Mohamed were
"entirely mundane and indistinguishable from the sorts of behavior"
exhibited by other inmates, Krieger wrote in her 45-page opinion.
Krieger ordered the FBI and prison officials to review the list of
people with whom Mohamed can communicate with a view toward possibly
expanding it, noting that the case could have been resolved
out-of-court had both sides cooperated to resolve the dispute
beforehand.
Among the other inmates held at Supermax in Colorado are Unabomber
Ted Kaczynski, Shoe Bomber Richard Reid, and the mastermind of the
1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef.
(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Jeremy Laurence)
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