In
SDNY Trial of Illiterate Manaf
For Drug Money to Haqqanis
Expert Praises Taliban 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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