SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 19: A federal judge rejected a motion on Thursday to dismiss a terrorism-related case against a Pakistani-American father and son in which the defence alleged “outrageous” conduct by federal prosecutors. The son, Hamid Hayat, was charged last year with attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan in 2003 and 2004 and training to “commit jihad” in the United States.

The father, ice cream vendor Umer Hayat, was charged with lying to investigators about his son’s activities. Both lived in Lodi, California, near the state capital Sacramento.

In a filing last week, defence lawyers argued that widespread publicity coupled with “outrageous conduct of the government” justified dismissal of the case. US District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. rejected the request, saying the publicity in the case was already four to seven months old.

“The publicity about which defendants complain is primarily factual information,” he wrote in an order that also cancelled a scheduled hearing on the issue. “Furthermore, none of the publicity demonstrates the creation of an atmosphere that undermines defendants’ right to a fair trial.”

Defence lawyers Wazhma Mojaddidi and Johnny Griffin wrote in their filing last Friday that it would be impossible to find an impartial jury because of widespread national media attention and governmental conduct that had tainted the jury pool.

The lawyers also alleged that the government acted to create prejudice against the men in the atmosphere of fear after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The case is scheduled to go to trial in a US court next month.—Reuters