Report: More Ressam documents released

SEATTLE, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors tried last year to question a jailed Frenchman in order to document a link between Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian charged with smuggling explosives into the United States, and Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer said Saturday that the federal judge who presided at Ressam's Los Angeles trial unsealed 45 court records Friday, including a letter from U.S. investigators seeking access to David Courtailler, a 25-year-old Frenchman who had been jailed in 1999 for suspected links to al Qaida.

The U.S. investigators wanted to question Courtailler about whether he had ever seen Ressam at an Afghan terrorist training camp they both apparently attended in 1998. The P-I said the letter provided further evidence that Ressam was linked to bin Laden, although it did not establish a firm link between Courtailler and Ressam.

Courtailler's brother and 13 other suspects were arrested in France last month in connection with an alleged al Qaida plot to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

Ressam, 34, was convicted in April of smuggling explosive bomb-making materials into the United States in the days ahead of the millennium New Year's celebrations. He faces 130 years in prison when he is sentenced in February.

Following his conviction, Ressam testified for the prosecution in New York trial of his accused accomplice, Mokhtar Haouari. Haouari was convicted, however his sentencing was also postponed until Nov. 8.

Ressam, an Algerian national and member of the terrorist band Armed Islamic Group, living in Montreal, was arrested in Washington state after arriving from Canada in a rental car with 130 pounds of explosives and timers stashed in his trunk that authorities believe wee intended for a bomb attack on Los Angeles International Airport or some other West Coast target.

The arrest triggered a manhunt in the United States and Canada, and prompted Seattle to cancel its New Year's Eve fireworks show at the downtown Space Needle.

Prior to the trial, prosecutors said Ressam had learned to build bombs at a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan run by bin Laden, however U.S. District Judge John Coughenour ruled that evidence would not be presented to the jury.

Coughenour was scheduled to rule on Tuesday whether to release more of the records from the Ressam case, including documents that the prosecution has sought to keep sealed, or at least be allowed to redact sensitive information. Coughenour said at a hearing Friday that the U.S. Attorney's office would have to show good reason why the records should be kept sealed.