Egyptian student charge with lying in terrorism probe

Associated Press

NEW YORK — An Egyptian student who was staying in a hotel overlooking the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 was charged Friday with lying to investigators for denying any knowledge of a radio found in his room that can be used to communicate with pilots.

Abdallah Higazy, 30, was denied bail and held on a federal charge of making false statements. Prosecutors accused him of interfering with the investigation into the attack that demolished the 110-story towers and killed about 2,900 people.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Frank Maas agreed with prosecutors, saying Higazy apparently lied.

But the judge also said a student aid group had placed Higazy at the Millennium Hilton Hotel until he could find more permanent housing, which suggests "this may not be ultimately a terrorism case."

Higazy acknowledged he had served in the Egyptian Air Corps and had expertise in communications and communications devices, according to the criminal complaint. He insisted during two FBI interviews that he knew nothing of the hand-held radio found in a safe in his room along with his Egyptian passport, a copy of the Quran and a gold medallion, prosecutors said.

In court Friday, assistant U.S. attorney Dan Himmelfarb said Higazy agreed during a third interview on Dec. 27 that the radio belonged to him, but told three conflicting stories of how he got it.

Himmelfarb accused Higazy of interfering with the investigation "in a profound and fundamental way."

Defense lawyer Robert Dunn said Higazy, who was studying on a U.S.-sponsored scholarship, was a victim of circumstance in a case based on circumstantial evidence.

In the complaint, FBI agent Christopher Bruno said Higazy denied any knowledge of the hand-held aviation radio found in Room 5101 after the hotel was evacuated Sept. 11. The room is in a corner of the hotel and has a view of the trade center across the street.

The device, called a transceiver, is marketed for use by pilots, enabling them to communicate air-to-air and air-to-ground with other pilots or to monitor other pilot conversations.