A Des Plaines man accused of being a “sleeper” spy for the government of Saddam Hussein pleaded not guilty Monday to a new charge that he violated U.S. sanctions against Iraq.
Sami Khoshaba Latchin was charged last year with entering the U.S. to spy for Iraq’s intelligence agency and lying on his citizenship application about his alleged affiliation with Hussein’s Baath Party.
Prosecutors now say Latchin traveled to Jordan in 2001 to illegally collect payment of $24,000 from Hussein’s government.
They say Latchin received the payment from an Iraqi intelligence officer and transferred $15,000 to his personal checking account in the U.S.
After Latchin pleaded not guilty in federal court in Chicago, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer addressed a defense motion over alleged secret government wiretaps.
Latchin’s attorneys have asked Pallmeyer to require the government to confirm or deny whether agents have listened in on Latchins’ telephone conversations without getting a court order.
Prosecutors have refused to discuss the matter because it concerns classified information. They did agree, however, to provide answers privately to Pallmeyer.
The defense raised the question of wiretaps after press reports revealed the National Security Agency has collected data about the telephone activity of Americans without getting a court’s approval.
Pallmeyer said Monday that she has privately reviewed documents provided by the Justice Department that apparently relate to the wiretap question.
She did not reveal, however, whether she concluded that the NSA has listened to Latchin’s calls.
The judge described a cloak-and-dagger scene whereby she reviewed classified material. A government agent twice brought sealed documents to her chambers.
After giving Pallmeyer the documents, the agent sat outside her office while she read them and took notes.
When she was done, the agent sealed the documents in envelopes, placed them in a case and left, she said.
Pallmeyer said some of the material she reviewed was not classified and would be made a part of the court’s public record, although she did not indicate when that would happen.
Latchin is scheduled to go on trial in October.
———-
rrbush@tribune.com
