Al Qaeda suspect Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun, who awaits trial on federal charges in New York, has declared that “our terrorism is not over” and “threatened to kill” prosecutors and courthouse personnel, according to a government memorandum in the case.
“I am a warrior, and the war is not over,” Harun said during a 2013 court appearance in Brooklyn, according to the court document.
Federal prosecutors have asked a district court judge for an anonymous and partially sequestered jury in the trial of man who allegedly has extensive contacts among ranking al Qaeda members and participated in a 2003 ambush that killed two American soldiers and wounded several others.
A trial date has not been set; a status hearing is scheduled for April 29.
Harun was seriously injured in the April 2003 machine gun and grenade ambush attack at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.
Pfc. Jerod Dennis, 19, of Oklahoma, and Airman 1st Class Raymond Losano, 24, of Arizona, were killed in the attack , according to the court document.
Harun was able to escape across the border into Pakistan, and U.S. soldiers later recovered a small brown Quran near the scene of firefight, the government memorandum said. FBI experts about 10 years later identified his fingerprints on the holy book.
Lawyers for Harun have not responded to a request for comment.
‘White Rose’ indicted in 2012
A federal grand jury indicted Harun — whose nom de guerre is Spin Ghul, a Pashto name meaning “White Rose” — in February 2012 on charges that included conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, conspiracy to attack a government facility and provision of material support to al Qaeda.
The charges stem from Harun’s alleged membership in al Qaeda from 2001 to 2011 and his position as an external operative in West Africa from 2003 to 2005, court documents said.
The memorandum said Harun’s alleged al Qaeda contacts included:
— Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi, one of the late Osama bin Laden’s deputies and a top military commander in Afghanistan.
— Hamza Rabia, a senior al Qaeda official in Pakistan who oversaw operatives and attacks outside the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
— Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who was directly involved in the September 11, 2001, attacks
— Adam Gadahn, a top English-speaking member of al Qaeda’s propaganda department.
Harun, who claims to be a citizen of Niger, allegedly joined the terror organization shortly before the 9-11 attacks and joined other jihadists who celebrated the attacks in Afghanistan, the court document said.
Taken into custody on the high seas
In June 2011, Harun was taken into custody by Italian authorities on a ship carrying 1,200 North African refugees from an island on the Mediterranean Sea to the Italian mainland, the court document said.
Harun allegedly told Italian authorities that he was an al Qaeda member and had sought to enter Europe in 2005 to carry out an attack “superior to the September 11, 2001, attacks,” according to the memorandum. The reason, he said: “Europe agrees with American politics.”
In September 2012, Italian authorities granted a U.S. extradition request as long as the government did not seek the death penalty against Harun, the court document said.
The memorandum said Harun has been “openly hostile and belligerent” in court and has challenged the authority of a federal judge.
“God is the only judge,” he has told the court, according to the court document.
Described in the memorandum as “aggressive, prideful and contemptuous,” Harun responded to a judge who said he didn’t have the authority to transfer him to an international or military tribunal with the words, “F— you, judge.”
The new details in the case emerged in the government’s memorandum of law in support of a motions for an anonymous and partially sequestered jury.
The court document quotes Harun in a 2013 letter to the U.N. Secretary-General as writing, “I have not declared it nor have I abandoned the idea of Jihad for the sake of Allah.”
“Likewise, outside of court, the defendant has threatened to kill the prosecutors assigned to this case along with other courthouse personnel.” the document said.