New York Sept. 11 terror trial delayed

NEW YORK, June 1 (UPI) -- The New York trial of a Jordanian student acquainted with two of the Sept. 11, 2001, aircraft hijackers has been delayed by legal wrangling.

Osama Awadallah, 25, is charged with committing perjury before the grand jurors concerning how well he knew one of the hijackers, Khalid Almihdhar, who was one of the hijackers who crashed a plane into the Pentagon.

Awadallah first was arrested as a material witness in the Sept. 11 investigation after his telephone number was found in the car of hijacker Nawaf Al-Hazmi.

Tuesday, federal Judge Shira Scheindlin sent the jury home, citing procedural reasons. Prosecutors are appealing her ruling the government could not call grand jurors to testify at the trial about their personal impressions of the defendant's demeanor when he appeared before them in October 2001. Scheindlin ruled such testimony would be overly speculative, the New York Times said Wednesday.

She also lightened the terms of Awadallah's bail, saying he appeared to pose no risk of flight.