Witness in CIA Shooting Case Is Kept in Jail

The roommate who helped police identify Mir Aimal Kansi as the suspect in last month’s shootings outside the CIA’s headquarters has been confined to the Fairfax County, Va., jail under a fake name for 11 days.

Zahed Ahmad Mir, 39, a Pakistani immigrant who had shared a Reston, Va., apartment with Kansi, is being held under a rarely used Virginia law that allows police to detain material witnesses if it is impossible to ensure their appearance in court.

Police feared that a subpoena would not be enough to keep Mir, who had quit his job and bought an airplane ticket to Pakistan, from leaving the country. A judge agreed and ordered Mir to post a $10,000 personal recognizance bond, turn in his passport and remain in the state. He could be released after being hooked up to an electronic monitor, a special bracelet that, when connected to a phone and a computer, would alert the Sheriff’s Department if he fled.

Although the court order was signed 11 days ago and Mir agreed to its conditions, he has not been released and remains in a minimum-security area of the jail, along with minor offenders and some felons, Sheriff Carl R. Peed said.

Mir has a small room to himself, eats jail food, can make phone calls and has had no visitors other than investigators, Peed said. “We just treat him as a regular prisoner. We’re not treating him special in any way. . . . We’ve got him booked under a John Doe name, a fictitious name.”

Peed said he consulted with the judge Friday and was reassured that his department was not violating the court order by not releasing Mir. His release would require electronic monitoring, and that cannot happen until a suitable place with a phone is found.

Fairfax County Commonwealth Atty. Robert F. Horan Jr. said Mir “can’t find anybody who’s willing to take him in who has a telephone, and he doesn’t want to go back to his apartment. . . . You can’t be in the program if you don’t have a telephone.”

Although police could obtain a motel room or an apartment for Mir, David Franklin, commander of the Major Crimes Division, said getting a phone is “basically up to him; he’s the one who’s under the court order to comply.” Franklin added that Mir had “certainly been very cooperative.”

Horan said there is no evidence that Mir was involved in the Jan. 25 shootings, which left two dead and three hurt, or knew about them in advance. He said Mir had not complained about his confinement.

Law enforcement sources said Friday that Mir has told them he is using a phony name. But they would not disclose his real identity.

Although state law allows police to detain a material witness for an undetermined amount of time, defense lawyers said they question whether Mir’s rights are being violated.