NEW YORK (AP) - A New York judge has set a hearing for Friday after a defense lawyer claimed the suspect prosecutors say was both a relative of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida’s spokesman after Sept. 11 might be the wrong man.
Judge Lewis Kaplan scheduled a hearing after claims were made Wednesday on behalf of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith (SOO’-lay-mahn AH’-boo GAYTH).
Attorney Zoe Dolan wrote that the defense recently learned there may be a second person with a similar name as Abu Ghaith who is at Guantanamo Bay. Dolan says the government is believed to have information about the other individual.
A trial is scheduled to begin Monday for Abu Ghaith. He is charged with conspiring to kill Americans in his role as al-Qaida’s spokesman after 9/11. Prosecutors did not immediately return a message for comment.
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