Muslim Cleric Claims He Has Evidence of Illegal Wiretaps by NSA

Convicted Muslim clerk Ali al-Timimi claims in court papers that he has evidence showing he was illegally wiretapped under the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretap program.

Timimi is serving a life sentence after being convicted of inciting terrorism in 2005. A court filing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria said Timimi’s lawyers have evidence of illegal wiretaps by the NSA and by “potentially other agencies,” the Washington Post reports.

The motion asks U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema of Alexandria, Va., to declare the wiretap program illegal, the story says. Timimi contends his conviction should be overturned because the illegal evidence gathering violated his constitutional rights. Much of the evidence on the wiretap issue has been litigated in secret.

In an October hearing that was later unsealed, Brinkema said the government may have violated federal discovery and evidence rules in the case. She ordered the government to look for additional evidence that it used secret wiretaps in the case.