Terrorism suspect waives jury trial

ATLANTA - A Dawsonville man accused of plotting to support terrorism waived his right to a jury trial Tuesday, deciding he has a better chance with a federal judge deciding his fate.

Syed Haris Ahmed told U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey he believes Duffey will be "more impartial than normal people," considering the nature of the charge against him.

After carefully questioning Ahmed about his decision during a pretrial hearing, Duffey granted the request.

Ahmed goes on trial June 1. He and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee of Roswell are accused of trying to join Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based terrorist group. They also are accused of taking videos for potential terrorist attacks during a 2005 trip to Washington.

Sadequee faces trial in August.

Ahmed said he decided against a jury partly because he wants to make a public statement at the close of his trial.

"I consider the opportunity to give the statement more important than anything to me right now," Ahmed told Duffey. He did not disclose what he plans to say.

Ahmed previously asked for permission to represent himself so he could give a statement to jurors during closing arguments. Duffey recently denied the request, saying Ahmed could prejudice his own defense.

On Tuesday, the judge said he would allow Ahmed to give his statement but would consider it only if it relates to the evidence.

Prosecutors say Ahmed, 24, and Sadequee met with at least three other targets of an FBI investigation during a trip to Canada in March 2005. The men allegedly discussed attacks against oil refineries and military bases and planned to travel to Pakistan to get military training.

They also allegedly made a series of videos in Washington, D.C., of the Capitol, the World Bank, the Masonic Temple and a fuel depot that were to be shipped overseas.

Ahmed, who was born in Pakistan and moved with his family to the U.S. in the mid 1990s, was a student at Georgia Tech at the time. He told investigators he met Sadequee at a mosque in Atlanta.

Sadequee, 22, a U.S. citizen who grew up near Atlanta, was extradited from Bangladesh.