Petrelis Files

Chicago Sun Times: NYT's Miller May Testify in IL Case

Just when I thought the Judy Miller mess couldn't get any weirder, I find this story from the Chicago Sun-Times:


N.Y. Times reporter could testify for suspect

October 18, 2005

BY ANNIE SWEENEY AND LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporters

Bridgeview used car salesman Muhammad Salah recalls being beaten, housed in a "refrigerator cell" and threatened with rape by Israeli soldiers until he admitted to bankrolling overseas terrorists, according to a new filing in U.S. District Court.

In an odd twist, the interrogation was witnessed by embattled New York Times reporter Judith Miller, and defense attorneys suggested Monday the best way for the U.S. government to prove its case -- and prove Salah wasn't abused -- is to call the controversial journalist to the witness stand.

"We think the government is going to call her," said Chicago defense attorney Michael E. Deutsch.

A message left for Miller -- author of the book God Has Ninety-Nine Names: Reporting From a Militant Middle East -- at the New York Times on Monday was not returned. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who subpoenaed Miller to testify in the leak of a CIA agent's name and whose office is prosecuting Salah, declined to comment on whether Miller might be called to testify in the case.
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