Somali man suspected for plotting to blow up shop in US

Mugadishu, Tuesday, July 24, 2007 Simba Radio

A federal judge will allow a Somali immigrant accused of plotting to blow up a shopping mall in Ohio to call a convicted terrorist as a witness in his case.

A lawyer for Nuradin Abdi has said that lyman Faris, serving 20 years in a maximum-security prison for a plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, will testify in a trial beginning in August that Abdi's statements represented only anger toward U.S. foreign policy, not conspiracy with terrorists.

Prosecutors have said Abdi, 35, a Somali immigrant, wanted to bomb an Ohio shopping mall. The purported plot was never carried out.

Abdi is charged with conspiring to provide support to terrorists and specifically to al-Qaida, and with using false travel documents. He faces 80 years in prison if convicted.

The U.S. government's case against Abdi centers on a meeting prosecutors say Abdi, Faris and a third terror suspect, Christopher Paul, had at a coffee shop in August 2002. They say Abdi suggested at the meeting that the three "could attack the mall with a bomb," according to court documents.

The judge also will require prosecutors to produce the results of a lie detector test taken by Abdi.

Messages were left Monday seeking comment from Abdi's lawyer and a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Columbus .