A man locked up for seven years after being accused of plotting terrorist attacks in the U.S. as an al-Qaida "sleeper" agent pleaded not guilty to federal charges Monday and was told his fate may be decided by the end of the year.
U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm set a May 26 date for the start Ali al-Marri's trial on charges of conspiracy and supporting terrorism, but acknowledged it could be moved and delayed.
Al-Marri, 43, was arrested in late 2001 while studying at Bradley University in Peoria after federal authorities alleged he was tied to organizers of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
A legal U.S. resident, the native of Qatar was declared an "enemy combatant" by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush and held without charges for more than five years at a Navy brig in South Carolina.
The designation was dropped when a federal grand jury in Illinois indicted al-Marri on charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terror. Each charge carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
Al-Marri spent most of Monday's half-hour court appearance _ the first here since his indictment _ seated at a table between two attorneys, occasionally rubbing his chest-length beard. Wearing a white pullover, tan pants and an embroidered white cap over his shoulder-length hair, he stood only briefly to answer "yes" or "no" to a handful of procedural questions from the judge.
One of his attorneys said after the hearing that al-Marri was glad to be back in Peoria, where he spent more than four years earning a degree from Bradley.
"He's not bitter at all," attorney Andrew Savage of Charleston, South Carolina, said outside the courthouse. "He harbors no ill will toward the people who have held him in custody. He harbors no ill will toward America."
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Risley spoke only briefly during the hearing and left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.
Federal prosecutors have said little about their case, and the two-page Feb. 26 indictment lists the two charges against al-Marri and little else.
In previous court documents declassified during al-Marri's time in the Navy brig, the government contended he had met with Osama bin Laden in the summer of 2001 and was sent to the U.S. to help al-Qaida operatives carry out attacks following Sept. 11, 2001.
Al-Marri had been the last enemy combatant held on U.S. soil.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks, the government had held two U.S. citizens _ former Chicago gang member Jose Padilla and Louisiana native Yaser Hamdi _ and one legal resident, al-Marri, as enemy combatants in the same brig.
Hamdi, who was captured in Afghanistan, was released in 2004 after the government said he no longer posed a threat to the U.S.
Padilla was arrested on allegations he was part of a plot to set off a radiological "dirty bomb" in the U.S. but eventually was indicted and convicted on unrelated criminal charges.
Al-Marri is now being held in isolation at a federal prison in Pekin, just outside Peoria.
