The Federal High Court, Abuja Division, on Wednesday, granted an accelerated hearing in the ongoing trial of three terror suspects, accused of spying on American and Israeli embassies in Nigeria for certain individuals in Iran.

Justice Emeka Nwite made the order following an oral application by prosecuting lawyer Bello Abu, which was not opposed by defence lawyers.

The three men, Haruna Ali Abbas, Ibrahim Hussaini Musa, and Adam Suleiman, were arrested in Kano and Lagos States in 2013.

At Wednesday’s hearing, a prosecution witness told the court that Mr 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 State Security Service (SSS), identified as James Simon, disclosed this.

The officer said one of those recruited for the assignment confessed to the act and how he also recruited others.

Mr Simon, who featured as the first prosecution witness (PW-1), was cross-examined on Tuesday by Mr Abbas’ lawyer, Aliyu Yauri.

The witness said he recorded the statement made by Mr 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 Mr Abbas (who is the 1st defendant), Iranian military men trained some Nigerians, particularly the defendants, in the act of terrorism.

When asked by Mr Yauri if he would consider the Iranian military men as members of a terrorist group, the witness said although he did not know the military men themselves, “their involvement in such an act (of training Nigerians in the act of terrorism), even if you are not formally branded as 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 responded in the affirmative.

He added: “The act of 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 they trained? Why would non-military personnel go outside the shores of the country to get military training?”

Reading from one of Mr Abbas’ statements, the witness noted that the 1st 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 Mr Abbas’ statement, said that as stated by the 1st defendant, some of the missions they were to carry out involved surveillance, counter-surveillance, and information gathering.

“Based on his confession, he said they were to send the names of Israeli and American companies.”

Upon Mr Yauri’s request that the witness tell the court the defendants’ capacity and mission, based on the exhibits before the court, Mr Simon said that from Mr Abbas’ statement, he confessed that their training in Iran started with surveillance.

He said it also involved how to recruit persons, security of information, open-source intelligence, communication, and a one-day class on gun handling.

He said Mr 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 Mr Abbas, where he said, “my mission was to send news concerning the American embassy and Israeli embassy locations.”

He said Mr Abbas also wrote in his confessional statement that he was asked to recruit some others for the assignment.

Mr Simon further read from Mr Abbas’ statement, where he said: “I came back to Nigeria, they gave me a mission to write open-source news to the America and Israel.”

From another page in the statement, the witness quoted Mr 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.”

Mr Simon said that from what Mr Abbas wrote in his statement, his missions included sending people for training in Iran and sending open-source intelligence on America and Israel.

Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until April 1 for further hearing.

Earlier in the proceedings in the trial of five men being held over the June 5, 2022, attack at the St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, the 2nd defendant, Al Qasim Idris, spoke about how he was detained and how statements were obtained from him.

He said he could not write or read in English, which was why he could not write his statement by himself.

Mr Idris, however, told the court that when he fell sick in custody, the SSS took him to the hospital and ensured that he was well attended to.

The matter was adjourned until March 26 for continuation of trial. 

(NAN)