Case against Osama thin on facts: experts

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, OCT. 5. The evidence presented to British Parliament on Thursday linking Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda organisation to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. has been received with widespread scepticism both on legal grounds and in terms of its diplomatic value in convincing the Arab world, in particular, that the West has an open and shut case against him.

The 17-page dossier, which begins with the disclaimer that it does not purport to present a ``prosecutable case'', has been described by legal experts as being too thin on facts to stand scrutiny in a court of law. Even the circumstantial evidence, according to them, is based more on conjecture than hard facts. Analysts said the Government's claim that there was more material which it was not possible to make public for security reasons was unlikely to convince those who were being asked to support military action against Afghanistan on the strength of this document.

``This may carry weight with politicians used to public immunity certificates but not with lawyers who require direct and admissible evidence,'' said Mr. Anthony Scrivener, a lawyer, in The Times. He pointed out that a legal case could not be made simply on the strength of motive and the fact that the attacks on September 11 bore ``hallmarks'' of a bin Laden operation. There were many terrorist groups who shared ``the same hatred of the Americans who might have carried out this atrocity'', he said arguing that the main weakness of the document was that it sought to present ``assertion'' as ``evidence''.

The lawyer also questioned the legal basis of the claim that since three of the 19 suicide hijackers had been identified as ``associates of Al-Qaeda'' it proved that Al-Qaeda and by further association bin Laden were behind the operation. ``The use of the word `associates' gives the impression that they are not members of that organisation and I would certainly wish to examine the evidence to see what associates really meant.''

Another leading legal expert, Mr. Nick Blake of Matrix Chambers with which the Prime Minister's wife, Ms. Cherie Blair, is associated, was quoted as saying that more evidence would be needed to obtain a legal indictment of bin Laden. At best, the proof produced so far could support charges of incitement to murder, he told The Daily Telegraph. ``I don't think they have got much evidence that would indict him for murder. Nothing in the disclosed material shows actual participation in the murders (the deaths caused by the attacks), as opposed to giving approval to terrorist attacks.''

Political pundits too were deeply sceptical saying that the Government had failed to produce a ``smoking gun'' that would prove bin Laden's guilt beyond doubt. ``The dossier relies heavily on circumstantial evidence about the previous atrocities carried out by bin Laden and Al-Qaeda and the similarities between these acts and the atrocities on September 11...'' said Independent. Its West Asia correspondent, Mr. Robert Fisk, regarded as an authority on Arab politics, said the document was ``unlikely to rally the Arab world to the West's war on terrorism''. He said only nine of the 70 points in the dossier related to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and these ``often rely on conjecture than evidence''. It was not going to ``cut much ice in Saudi Arabia or other Gulf States''.

The Times, in an analysis, called the document a ``puzzling and worrying piece of work''. ``There is no evidence presented that directly links bin Laden to September 11,'' asserted its foreign affairs commentator, Mr. Brownwen Maddox, calling the document ``a political dance, not a serious attempt to preach to the unconverted''. The Guardian, in an editorial headed ``Still No Smoking Gun'', described the evidence as ``almost worthless from a legal point of view'' and said Mr. Blair's case that there was sufficient ammunition to hang bin Laden boiled down to ``two words: trust me''. And, outside the hawkish political circles, not many seemed to be inclined to do that.

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Section  : International
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