Mysterious Power Outage Halts Miami Terror Trial
MIAMI (AP) — It wasn't someone's outburst or a sick juror that halted testimony in the South Florida terrorism support trial of an elderly Muslim cleric Tuesday, but rather something more difficult to explain: an outage in transmission of live testimony from Pakistan.
The feed to a Miami federal courtroom was cut off Tuesday and restoration efforts failed. Neither lawyers for 77-year-old Hafiz Khan nor the U.S. Justice Department could explain the cause Wednesday.
Khan lawyer Khurrum Wahid said employees at the Islamabad hotel where the witnesses were appearing told him police were seen taking photos in the building. But prosecutors say Pakistani government agencies contacted by the U.S. denied cutting off the feed.
U.S. District Judge Robert Scola ordered Khan's lawyers to either bring witnesses to Miami or find a third country. Trial will resume next week.
Khan is charged with funneling cash to the Pakistani Taliban.
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