Judge will read letter from convicted terrorist

SEATTLE – U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour says he will read a letter from convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam, despite the objections of Ressam’s attorneys.

Coughenour issued his one-page decision about the letter Friday, but said he would not read it until Jan. 5. He gave no reason for the delay. The letter was originally written in Arabic but has been translated into English, court documents say.

Ressam’s lead attorney, Thomas Hillier, revealed the existence of the letter in a Nov. 27 filing, in which he urged Coughenour not to read it because it could be an improper communication that would taint Coughenour’s handling of the case. Coughenour sentenced Ressam last year to 22 years in prison, but the sentence could be sent back to the judge on appeal.

Federal prosecutors argued in favor of Coughenour’s reading the letter, saying that it could represent a pleading, a wish for new lawyers or a desire to resume cooperating with terrorism investigators.

Ressam was convicted in 2001 of terrorism and explosives charges for plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the millennium. Customs agents in Port Angeles caught him with explosives in the trunk of his rental car when he drove off a ferry from British Columbia in December 1999.