In SDNY Trial of Illiterate
Manaf For Drug Money to Haqqanis
Expert Praises Talib Courts
By Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 25
– Accusing of trafficking heroin
to support the Haqqani network in
Afghanistan, the US Attorney's
Office on April 4, 2019 asked that
defendant Haji Abdul Satar
Abdul Manaf be admonished to tell
his family members in Afghanistan
not to threaten witnesses. U.S.
District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Paul
Crotty was happy to do so, and set
a control date 30 days out about
discovery.
But an incongruity
arose. It was said that Manaf can
neither read nor write, yet the
prosecutor referred to hundreds of
text messages as being part of the
discovery. Afterward, Inner City
Press the only media present for
the proceeding asked her to
explain. She politely declined.
Judge Crotty meanwhile asked
Manaf's lawyer in what language
she speaks with him - Urdu - then
asked, You don't speak Pashtun?
Jump cut to July 25, 2024, when
with Manaf on trial accompanied by
five lawyers, one of them cross
examined the prosecutors' Taliban
expert Professor Tricia Bacon of
American University. From Inner
City Press thread:
Assistant US Attorney:
How did the Taliban deal with
those who worked with the US?
Bacon: Heavy handed. They would
kill and display the bodies.
Cross-examination. Manaf's
lawyee: The Taliban are
terrorists, right? Bacon: Now
they are the government.
Manaf's lawyer: But in
2018, did they provide any
service beyond Islamic courts?
Bacon: No. The Taliban had
mobile courts. They were not
perceived as corrupt, or not as
corrupt as the government's.
[LOC map of Afghanistan shown to
jury]
Manaf's lawyer: Did the
Haqqanis control a border? Prof
Bacon: Durand line Manaf's
lawyer: What crops did Taliban
tax? Bacon: Poppy. And some
wheat. Manaf's defense lawyer:
Let me show you a UN report...
The case is US v. Manaf, 18-cr-762
(Rakoff)
***
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