#Warrantless #surveillance #evidence #faces #court #test in #terrorist #case The #JusticeDepartment has said it intends to #use #intercepted #emails and #telephone #calls #against #JamshidMuhtorov Neighbour of Jamshid Muhtorov In a photograph from January 2012, a neighbour of terror #suspect Jamshid Muhtorov is interviewed in Aurora, Colorado. Photograph: Ed Andrieski/AP The Justice Department has said for the first time that it intends to use information gained from one of the #governments warrantless surveillance programmes against an #accused terrorist, setting the #stage for a probable #supreme court test of the #Obama administrations #approach to #nationalsecurity. The court has so far turned aside challenges to the law on government surveillance, saying people who bring such lawsuits have no evidence they are being targeted. A Justice Department spokesman, Brian Fallon, declined comment on Saturday on the new development, beyond the court filing. Jamshid Muhtorov was accused in 2012 of providing material support to the Islamic Jihad Union, an Uzbek terrorist organisation that, authorities say, was engaging Nato coalition and US forces in Afghanistan. According to court papers in the case, the FBI investigated Muhtorov because of his communications with a website administrator for the group. In a court filing on Friday, the government said it intended to offer into evidence in Muhtorovs case information obtained or derived from acquisition of foreign intelligence information conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. Last February a sharply divided supreme court threw out an attempt by US citizens to challenge the expansion of the surveillance law used to monitor conversations of foreign spies and terrorist suspects. In a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that a group of US lawyers, journalists and organisations could not sue to challenge the 2008 expansion of the law, because they could not prove that the government would monitor their conversations along with those of potential foreign terrorist and intelligence targets. In the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito suggested a way for a challenge to be heard. He said if the government intends to use information from such surveillance in court, it must provide advance notice. In his argument before the courts decision, solicitor general Donald Verrilli had made similar comments to the justices on behalf of the administration. In September, the supreme court justice Antonin Scalia, who ruled with the majority in the earlier 5-4 ruling, said the courts ultimately would have to determine the legality of National Security Agency surveillance programmes. In the Muhtorov case, the FBI obtained email communications from two accounts that Muhtorov used, according to the court papers. The FBI also obtained communications originating from Muhtorovs phone lines. In one call, Muhtorov told an associate that the Islamic Jihad Union said it needed support, an FBI agent said in an affidavit filed in the case. The associate warned Muhtorov to be careful about talking about a founder of group, the affidavit stated. The FBI also said Muhtorov communicated with a contact with the group by email using code words, telling a contact that he was ready for any task, even with the risk of dying. Muhtorov and another man, Bakhtiyor Jumaev, are suspected of plotting a terrorist attack planned by the Islamic Jihad Union, an FBI agent said in an affidavit. The group first conducted attacks in 2004, targeting a bazaar and police, and killing 47 people. The organisation subsequently carried out suicide bombings of the US and Israeli embassies and the Uzbekistani prosecutor generals office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Muhtorov, a human rights worker, resettled in Aurora, Colorado, in 2007 with the help of the United Nations and the US government. He was arrested on 21 January 2012, in Chicago and when in possession of about $2,800 in cash, two shrink-wrapped iPhones and an iPad as well as a GPS device. He has denied the criminal charge. theguardian/world/2013/oct/26/warrantless-surveillance-jamshid-muhtorov-court?guni=Network%20front:network-front%20main-3%20Main%20trailblock:Network%20front%20-%20main%20trailblock:Position1:sublinks
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 12:50:53 +0000