Lawyer calls for Jewish people to be BANNED from jury trying terrorist who tried to join jihadis in Pakistan



Told the court he was ' not wild about having Jews on the jury in this case'

Client i s accused of lying about trying to join jihadists in Pakistan

Controversial: An attorney has asked a judge to exclude Jewish people from the terror trial of Abdel Hameed Shehadeh

An attorney has asked a judge to exclude Jewish people from a terror trial.

Frederick Cohn believes his client, Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, who is accused of lying about trying to join jihadists in Pakistan, will not be given a fair trial if Jewish people sit on the jury.

Today he will ask the judge to bar them from the Brooklyn court - he first told the court in February he was ' not wild about having Jews on the jury in this case.'

'Given that there’s going to be inflammatory testimony about Jews and Zionism, I think it would be hard for Jews to cast aside any innate antipathy,' said Mr Cohn, who is Jewish, reported the New York Post.

'The American Jewish community is heavily aligned with Israel and Zionism. Here is a guy who is a Muslim, who is opposed to those thing' he said.

When the issue was brought up last month federal prosecutors were incensed by the suggestion.

'I don’t think Judge [Robert] Levy will be ready to violate the Constitution and exclude people from the jury on the basis of their religious beliefs,' William Sarratt told the judge.



Magistrate Judge Levy will begin selecting the jury this week.

The Brooklyn-born Shehadeh, 22, is charged with lying to the police about a failed attempt to travel to Pakistan and join the Taliban.



Request: Today Frederick Cohn will ask the judge to bar them from the Brooklyn court - he first told the court in February he was 'not wild about having Jews on the jury in this case'

He also tried to join the U.S. Army, but was rejected because he failed to disclose his overseas trips.



It is not the first time religion has become an issue during a trial.

At the initial trial of two black men accused of civil-rights violations stemming from the Crown Heights killing in 1991 of Hasidic scholar Yankel Rosenbaum, a judge tried to balance the religious and racial composition of the jury, but an appellate court overturned the verdict.



Ten years ago was the first time that potential jurors in Britain were banned from sitting on the jury because of their religion.

The judge agreed to a defence plea not to allow Jewish and Hindu jurors - but in the end none came forward.