http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247 ... ndi10.html

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Immigrant accused of al-Qaida ties
Kirkland man denies he knowingly tried to help bin Laden lieutenant

By SAM SKOLNIK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

TACOMA -- The large chart pictured Osama bin Laden at the top and one of his former lieutenants, Tawfiq bin Attash, beneath him.

A photo of Sam Malkandi of Kirkland was at the bottom of the chart, directly linked to bin Attash.

Darrick Smalley, U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement senior special agent, posted the chart during his testimony Wednesday at a bond hearing for Iraqi Kurdish immigrant Malkandi at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. The judge in the case is expected to rule later whether to release Malkandi on bail.

Smalley testified that Malkandi "appears to be a facilitator" for al-Qaida.

"He was trying to bring one of the most dangerous operatives in the world into the United States -- to his house," Smalley said.

Malkandi, 46, was arrested Aug. 25 and has been detained at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac ever since. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on his case and the government's accusations against him last month.

He has emphatically denied knowingly who bin Attash was or of supporting al-Qaida in any way.

FBI and immigration agents say Malkandi, a green-card holder, should be deported because he has admitted lying on his application to become a refugee before being allowed into the country in 1998.

But federal authorities say his connection with al-Qaida is an added twist to this case and one that makes it imperative that he leave the country.



Smalley and Naval Criminal Investigative Service Agent Michael Marks said they find it hard to believe that Malkandi was chosen virtually at random in late 1998 to help smooth the way for bin Attash to come into the country.

Federal agents said bin Attash wanted to come to the United States to take part in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Malkandi has said he thought the man needed medical treatment.

"Somebody picked Sam Malkandi out of all the millions of people in the country to entrust with the safety of one of the highest-ranking al-Qaida operatives? They don't operate that way," Smalley said.

Malkandi has said that he was approached at Northgate Mall by an Arabic-speaking stranger named Ahmed Bawarth soon after arriving in Western Washington. The two became friends, Malkandi said, and about a year after they met, Bawarth asked Malkandi to assist him in helping a friend from Yemen into the country. The friend, according to the government, was bin Attash, planner of the bombing of the Navy ship USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 and the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Malkandi, supported by his wife and two children and surrounded by more then a dozen well-wishers, said he never has been a member of al-Qaida.

"You know, since I came here, I think this is my country," Malkandi testified. Between answers, he sneaked in broad smiles to his wife, Mali, daughter, Nicole, and son, Arvin.

In a brief interview after the hearing, Malkandi said that for the past several weeks, he has been held in a restrictive special housing unit at the Federal Detention Center. An official there told him it was for his own safety, he said. Warden Robert Palmquist could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Malkandi reaffirmed in the interview his account of how he was contacted out of the blue by Bawarth, saying a friend and family members with him at the time were witnesses to the meeting.

"I believe in humanity," said Malkandi, described by his friends as generous and warmhearted. "I've never hurt anyone in my life."

The hearing is to continue Wednesday.