Jump to full article: Reuters, 2001-12-04
Author: Dan Whitcomb
Intro: An Iranian businessman who allegedly vowed to ``kill all Americans'' on an Air Canada jet 16 days after the Sept. 11 attacks went on trial on Tuesday with a defense lawyer claiming that the flight crew ``overreacted'' to his client because he is Middle Eastern.
But prosecutors told the jury that 37-year-old Javid Naghani was belligerent and possibly drunk on Sept. 27, justifying the flight crew's decision to return to Los Angeles with an escort of fighter jets and turn him over to police.
Naghani, owner of a janitorial business called Cleaning Of America, is charged with one count of interference with a flight crew on the Boeing 767 with 148 people on board and could face 20 years in prison if convicted.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Yang told jurors during her opening statement that Naghani was smoking in the plane's lavatory just minutes after it left Los Angeles International Airport for Toronto, then called a flight attendant ``racist'' when she confronted him. . .
Naghani's attorney, Theodore Flier, portrayed his client as a nervous flyer and a heavy smoker who was mistreated by crew members who were deeply suspicious of people from the Middle East after the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks. . .
``He said, 'I'm the president of Cleaning Of America,''' Flier said. ``He never said 'I will kill all Americans.'''
Flier added: ``From that act of smoking in the bathroom, you get an (Air Canada) jet turned around with jet fighters ready to shoot it down, it lands and the SWAT team comes on and everybody is crazy.''
Jump to full article » |