N.Y. Bomb Plot Figure Fires Lawyer, May Testify

One of 13 defendants accused of plotting to bomb New York landmarks has fired lawyer William Kunstler and apparently decided to testify for the government, Kunstler’s office said Saturday.

In an angry letter to U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey, Kunstler and partner Ronald Kuby said they were advised Friday that the suspect, Siddig Ibrahim Siddig Ali, had hired a new attorney.

They also said he had been moved from the federal detention center without their knowledge and that they had been unable to locate Siddig Ali’s wife to find out what was going on.

“After spending a year vilifying Siddig Ali and portraying him as a terrorist mastermind deserving of life imprisonment, prosecutors will now rely on his testimony,” they said.

There was no official confirmation that Siddig Ali had become a government witness. He would be the second of an original 15 defendants to do so.

Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for U.S. Atty. Mary Jo White, said Saturday that the office was not commenting on the case. Howard Leader, a New York attorney who told the court he was Siddig Ali’s new defense lawyer, did not return calls.

Siddig Ali, 32, of Jersey City, N.J., is one of 13 men accused of participating in a radical Muslim ring that planned to assassinate key figures and bomb the United Nations building, a federal office complex and New York bridges and tunnels.

Their trial is scheduled for September.

Federal authorities say the plot was indirectly linked to the bombing of New York’s World Trade Center on Feb. 26, 1993. Four other men were convicted earlier this year in that case and are serving life sentences.

Among those accused in the second case is Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, a blind Egyptian cleric who prosecutors allege was the instigator of both plots.

The charges against Abdul Rahman, Siddig Ali and the others include conspiracy, conspiracy to murder, bombing conspiracy and use and carrying of explosives.

Of 15 defendants originally charged, one has already pleaded guilty to lesser charges and another opted to testify for the government.