3 Men Held in San Diego as Material Witnesses

At a federal court hearing cloaked in extraordinary secrecy, three young Middle Eastern men were ordered held as material witnesses Tuesday in the investigation of East Coast terrorism attacks, the men’s attorney said.

The 5 1/2-hour hearing was held behind locked doors, and afterward, the three men’s attorney, Randall B. Hamud, said he had been ordered by U.S. Magistrate Ruben B. Brooks not to acknowledge the names of his clients or to say if they had been present in the courtroom.

Federal prosecutors in the case refused to comment.

However, San Diego State University issued a news release Tuesday saying that student Mohdar Abdullah and college applicant Yazeed Saad Alsali were being “detained as material witnesses.” Family members identified the third witness as community college student Osama “Sam” Awadallah.

The three witnesses are believed to be acquaintances of Omer Bakarbashat, who was arrested last week in San Diego as a material witness and flown to New York. A federal law enforcement source has said that Bakarbashat is suspected of helping provide financial aid to Nawaq Alhamzi, a former resident of San Diego and Lemon Grove who authorities have identified as one of the five hijackers on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11.

Meeting with reporters after Tuesday’s lengthy hearing, attorney Hamud said that he has been cut off from any contact with his clients. The men’s families also are not allowed to visit them, he said.

The attorney accused the FBI and prosecutors of engaging in racial profiling of Arab Americans.

“The country has to stop acting hysterically and think where we’re heading,” he said. “Are the principles on which this country was founded being adhered to? I submit to you they’re not.”