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Escaped al-Qaeda chief unavailable to testify at trial

A man once considered a top al-Qaeda operative in Southeast Asia escaped from a US-run detention facility in Afghanistan and cannot testify against the soldier who allegedly mistreated him, a defense lawyer involved in a prison abuse case said.

Omar al-Farouq was one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants until Indonesian authorities captured him in the summer of 2002 and turned him over to the US.

A Pentagon official in Washington confirmed on Tuesday evening that al-Farouq escaped from a US detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, on July 10. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

An Army lawyer for Sergeant Alan Driver, a reservist accused of abusing Bagram detainees, asked on Tuesday where al-Farouq was and what the Army had done to find him in time for the hearings.

Captain John Parker, a prosecutor, said al-Farouq and others who escaped have not been found.

"If we find him ... we will make him available," Parker said.

Members of Driver's company, testifying by speaker phone in court on Tuesday, identified the detainee Driver is accused of abusing as Omar al-Farouq, who was featured in a Time magazine cover story in September 2002. The article, titled "Confessions of an al-Qaeda Terrorist," detailed his plans to carry out attacks in Southeast Asia, including a plot to bomb US embassies near the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
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