JFK bomb suspects 'won't get a fair trial'
Two men accused of plotting to bomb New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport should not be extradited because they cannot get a fair trial in the US, their lawyer said today.
Syerd Hussein, who represents suspects Abdul Kadir and Kareem Ibrahim, told a Trinidadian court hearing that his clients should not be sent to the US because widespread publicity had made a fair trial impossible.
The two men and a third suspect, Abdel Nur, were arrested in the twin-island Caribbean nation in June and face conspiracy charges in the US.
A fourth man, Guyanese-born Russell Defreitas, who worked as a cargo handler at the airport until 1995, is in custody in New York.
The suspects have denied allegations they participated in a terror cell that planned to blow up a jet fuel artery that runs through residential neighbourhoods and feeds JFK.
US authorities say the alleged plotters unsuccessfully sought help in Trinidad from Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Islamic group that staged a deadly coup attempt in 1990.
According to court documents, the men also planned to seek help from Iran.
In early August, a judge rejected a defence argument that Ibrahim, Kadir and Nur could not be extradited under Trinidadian law.
Appeals court Judge Nolan Bereaux scheduled a continuation tomorrow for the cases of the three suspects.
