Suspect says scars are proof he was tortured

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Virginia man accused of joining al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush wants a doctor to examine scars on his back to corroborate claims that Saudi officials extracted a confession through torture.

The lawyer for Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, filed a motion Monday seeking “immediate access to medical, psychological and forensic experts to examine and evaluate” Abu Ali for evidence of torture.

The motion was filed at Abu Ali’s arraignment in federal court, where he pleaded innocent to providing material support to terrorists and other charges. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 80 years in prison.

Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen who was valedictorian of his high school class at an Islamic private school in northern Virginia, is accused of joining al Qaeda while studying overseas in Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors say he discussed numerous terrorist acts with other al Qaeda members, including a plan in which he would either shoot Bush or detonate a car bomb.

Other discussions included a Sept. 11-style attack in which airplanes would be hijacked from the United Kingdom or Australia and flown to targets in the United States.

An FBI agent testified at a previous hearing that Abu Ali has admitted his guilt multiple times in interviews with Saudi and American authorities. But Abu Ali’s lawyers say the government’s evidence was obtained through torture and that they have seen the scars on Abu Ali’s back from beatings he endured while in Saudi custody.

The defense motion seeking forensic examinations includes affidavits from Ashraf Nubani and another lawyer who have seen the scars. Human rights lawyer Jenny Brooke-Condon described them as “muted linear discolorations of Mr. Abu Ali’s skin that looked to me like scars … in a scattered direction and appeared to be of various lengths.”