A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday granted accelerated hearing in the ongoing trial of three terror suspects, accused of spying on American and Israeli interests in Nigeria for certain individuals in Iran.
The three men – Haruna Ali Abbas, Ibrahim Hussaini Musa and Adam Suleiman were arrested in Kano and Lagos in 2013.
Justice Emeka Nwite elected to place the case on the court’s fast track list following an oral application by prosecutiing lawyer, Bello Abu, which was not opposed by defence lawyers.
At Wednesday’s hearing, a prosecution witness, told the court that Abbas admitted being recruited to spy on the interests of the United States of America and Israel in Nigeria, particularly their embassies.
The witness, a senior official of the Department of State Services (DSS), identified as James Simon, who disclosed this, said one of those recruited for the assignment confessed to the act and how he also recruited others.
Simon, who featured as the first prosecution witness (PW1), was cross-examined on Tuesday by Abbas’ lawyer, Aliyu Yauri.
The witness said he recorded the statement made by Abbas, in which he (Abbas) detailed his involvement in the whole episode and how he helped the Iranians recruit some other Nigerians.
He said from the statement written by Abbas (who is the first defendant), Iranian military men trained some Nigerians, particularly the defendants in the act of terrorism.
When asked by Yauri he would consider the Iranian military men to belong to a terrorist group, the witness said, although he did not know the military men himself, “their involvement in such an act (of training Nigeria on the act of terrorism), even if you are not formally branded to a terrorist organisation, still amounts to the act of terrorism.”
On whether the defendants could be called terrorists by merely engaging in military training under the tutelage of Iranian military men, the witness said yes.
He added, “The act of the involvement of non-military personnel in surveillance, recruitment of persons and even weapon handling amounts to the act of terrorism.
“The question should be, for what purpose were their training? Why will non-military personnel go outside the shores of the country to get military training?”
Reading from one of Abbas’ statements, the witness noted that the first defendant wrote that they were trained by military men, whose names he did not know.
The witness then queried if it was possible for someone to be trained by instructors, “who you don’t know and can’t identify?”
When asked to disclose the mission defendants were to carry out, the witness, reading from Abbas’ statement, said as stated by the first defendant, some of the missions they were to carry out was surveillance, and counter-surveillance and information gathering.
“Based on his confession, he said they were to send the names of Israeli and American companies.”
Upon Yauri’s request that the witness tells the court the defendant’s capacity and mission, based on the exhibits before the court, Simon said from Abbas’ statement, he confessed that their training in Iran started with surveillance, how to recruit persons, security of information, open source intelligence, communication and a one day class on guns handling.
He said Abbas added that they were later taken to a shooting ground in a military barracks in Iran and trained for one day.
The witness also read part of the statement by Abbass where he said, “My mission was to send news concerning the American embassy and Israeli embassy locations,”
He said Abbas also wrote in his confessional statement that he asked to recruit some others for the assignment.
Simon further read from Abbas’ statement, where he said, “I came back to Nigeria, they gave me a mission to write open source news to them of America and Israel.
From another page in the statement, the witness quoted Abbas as saying, “And, we discussed about those to come. They requested three persons, from among those we trusted to be sent to them for training.
“When I came back, we agreed in the year 2010 so I will arrange for their trip whenever I come back. They gave me the same mission – America, Israel, open source intelligence.”
Simon said from what Abbas wrote in his statement, his missions included sending people for training in Iran and sending open source intelligence on America and Israel.
Further hearing in the case resumes on April 1.
Earlier in the proceedings in the trail of five men being held over the June 5, 2022 attack at the St Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, the second defendant, Al Qasim Idris spoke about how he was detained and statements obtained from him.
He said he could not write and read in English language, which was why he could not write his statement by himself.
Idris however told the court that when he fell sick in custody, the DSS took him to hospital and ensured that he was well attended to.
Further hearing in the case resumes on Thursday.
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