By Connor Adams Sheets
The father of an admitted Flushing terrorist went on trial Monday on obstruction of justice charges as his nephew accused his uncle of ordering him to destroy materials for making bombs destined to unleash carnage in the New York City subway system in September 2009.
Former Flushing resident Amanullah Zazi was called to the stand Monday in Brooklyn federal court as a key government witness against Mohammed Wali Zazi during the first day of his federal trial on obstruction of justice charges. Amanullah Zazi alleged that his uncle, whom he lived with for years in Flushing and Colorado, told him to “take care of the chemicals,” meaning destroy them, after he learned federal authorities knew of the terror plot drawn up by his son, Najibullah Zazi.
Amanullah Zazi also contended that he told Mohammed Zazi that he helped Najibullah Zazi and his Flushing co-conspirators Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin — with whom Amanullah Zazi became close while they attended Flushing High School — get to Waziristan, where Najibullah Zazi and Ahmedzay have admitted they received terror training from Al Qaeda in 2008. Medunjanin has denied receiving terror training.
“I told him … I helped them get to Waziristan,” Amanullah Zazi testified. “He said not to tell anybody.”
Amanullah Zazi earned a cooperation deal with federal authorities in exchange for pleading guilty to helping Najibullah Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjanin get to Waziristan, and to destroying his cousin’s bomb-making materials. The attack was supposed to take place on Sept. 11, 2009.
But Justine Harris, a lawyer for Mohammed Zazi, said jurors need to keep in mind that Amanullah Zazi and other defendants who cooperate with federal authorities — including Najibullah Zazi and Ahmedzay — may have an ulterior motive in implicating Mohammed Zazi.
“By pointing their finger, they’re getting their own tickets out of jail,” Harris said. “On trial today is no terrorist. He is a father.”
Mohammed Zazi pleaded not guilty to eight charges in December. On Monday, he faced two charges of obstructing justice and one charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice in connection with his alleged role in hindering the FBI’s investigation into his son’s terror plot. A source close to the trial said other charges may be brought against him in Colorado, where he lived at the time of his Feb. 1, 2010, arrest.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Goldsmith opened with a detailed explanation of what part the government alleges the elder Zazi played in disrupting the FBI’s “frantic” effort to stop the terror plot, a role that allegedly included calling his son and alerting him to the fact that the FBI was on his trail.
“Mohammed Wali Zazi decided to stand in the FBI’s way, he lied to the FBI and he convinced others to lie to the FBI …. Because of the defendant, the FBI lost valuable time and evidence,” Goldsmith said. “When the defendant learned that Najibullah Zazi was a key suspect, he tipped him off.”
Harris countered by saying that he “tried to do the right thing for a long time,” coming to Queens in 1990, working as a taxi driver and getting his U.S. citizenship.
“That promise of a better life came crashing down when he learned the FBI was looking for his son,” Harris told Judge John Gleeson and an 18-member jury. “These are not lies at all. They are misunderstandings and miscommunications.”
Goldsmith also alleged that Mohammed Zazi lied about his contacts with Amanullah Zazi and Flushing Imam Ahmad Wais Afzali, who was sentenced in April 2010 to time served and ordered to leave the country for lying to federal authorities about discussions with Najibullah Zazi in 2009.
The prosecution introduced a range of evidence, including a description of a recipe to make the explosive triacetone triperoxide found on Najibullah Zazi’s computer.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
