Judge rules jurors can see ISIS videos in alleged terrorist's trial next week

Prosecutors will be permitted to show jurors parts of nine Islamic State “propaganda videos” found on a laptop at the apartment of alleged Port Authority bomber Akayed Ullah when he goes on trial next week, a Manhattan federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan overruled defense arguments that the videos shouldn’t be allowed without proof Ullah used the laptop, and that the imagery would be unnecessarily inflammatory in light of post-arrest statements Ullah made admitting he was inspired by ISIS.

“ISIS is a violent organization but allowing the jury to see too much of the TPM [Terrorist Propaganda Materials] will inevitably taint Mr. Ullah with the ISIS’ deserved stain, even though he is not responsible for that organization’s conduct or any of the conduct depicted in the video excerpts,” defense lawyers said in a motion.

But the judge said prosecutors edited the most violent images out of the videos, and they were relevant to the charge that Ullah was providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization when he tried to detonate a bomb in a Port Authority commuter tunnel under Times Square last December.

“Arguments that the defendant didn’t see them, I don’t think that’s a basis for excluding them,” Sullivan said during a pretrial hearing. “… The government gets to prove its case.”

Ullah, 28, a Bangladeshi man from Brooklyn, is facing up to life in prison on a six-count indictment also charging him with use of a weapon of mass destruction, committing a terror attack against a mass transport system, and other crimes.

Prosecutors disclosed Wednesday that he was offered a chance to plead to five counts that would have carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison, but he rejected the offer.

The pipe bomb detonated on Dec. 11, injuring Ullah and three others, but it caused no fatalities.

Ullah allegedly posted a message on Facebook on the morning of the attack saying, “Trump you failed to protect your nation" and later told agents he carried out the attack in the name of ISIS, and hoped to terrorize as many civilians as possible by attacking on a weekday morning.

The videos the government wants to introduce at trial, prosecutors said, include ISIS urging unaffiliated supporters without formal ties to carry out so-called “lone wolf” attacks.

Ullah’s trial is scheduled to begin on Monday. Prosecutors said they expect their case to last less than a week, with closing arguments likely on Nov. 5.