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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
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SDNY COURTHOUSE, Sept 25 – Charged with conspiring to provide material support to Hezbollah, Alexei Saab was brought on September 25 before 10 am into the courtroom of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul G. Gardephe.

   But Saab's lawyer wasn't there.

   Some time after 10 into the largely empty courtroom came his lawyer Marlon Kirton, described online as a car accident attorney. The arraignment form does not indicate if he is retrained or paid under the Criminal Justice Act.

    Saab, 42 and a resident of New Jersey, is charged with surveiling dozens of locations in New York City, including the United Nations headquarters, host this week to the General Assembly's annual speech-fest, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Empire State Building, and local airports, tunnels, and bridges, and provided detailed information on these locations, including photographs, to Islamic Jihad Organization, a component of Hezbollah.

   Judge Gardephe then came in and asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Krouse about the status of producing discovery to the defendant and his lawyer. Krouse called the discovery voluminous, including not only related marriage-fraud charges but also some 50 electronic devices.

    Krouse said to expect some litigation under the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) and perhaps the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), saying the U.S. Attorney's Office intends to file a motion under Section 4 of CIPA.

    Judge Gardephe gave three months for all this to happen, telling the parties to return on December 19 at which time he will ask about any pre-trial motions.

   Saab was taken back out of the courtroom by two U.S. Marshals. Some wondered, if Saab is so connected with Hezbollah, why Nasrallah couldn't whip up a more extensive legal team. Inner City Press will continue to cover this case. For now, more on Patreon here. The case is US v. Saab, 19-cr-00676 (Gardephe).