"Millennium bomber" wants to represent himself at resentencing

Convicted would-be terrorist Ahmed Ressam has asked to fire his longtime public defenders so he can represent himself when he is resentenced for conspiring to set off a powerful suitcase bomb at the Los Angeles International Airport during the millennium celebration.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour received a letter from Ressam on Tuesday, which he sealed. On Wednesday, Public Defender Tom Hillier filed a motion for the document to remain sealed, saying it contains "sensitive and confidential" information "which, if made public, could result in irreparable harm to the defendant."

Hillier did not return a telephone call for comment.

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday responded to Ressam's letter by asking Coughenour to hold a hearing to determine whether the 41-year-old Algerian is competent to represent himself when he is resentenced on Dec. 3.

Hillier has led Ressam's defense team since he was indicted in December 1999 on charges of conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism and a variety of other crimes. Ressam was convicted at a Los Angeles trial in the spring of 2001.

Ressam was arrested Dec. 14, 1999, in Port Angeles, coming off the ferry from Victoria, B.C. Inspectors found powders and liquids in the trunk of his rental car that turned out to be the makings of a powerful bomb.

The investigation showed Ressam had been recruited by al-Qaida in Montreal and had trained in Osama bin Laden-sponsored terrorism camps in Afghanistan.

Ressam became a key source of information on the operation of al-Qaida in Western Europe and North America after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, providing information that led to the prosecution of some of the terrorist organization's top leaders.

However, years of isolation in prison and repeated interrogations soured Ressam on cooperation and frayed his relationship with his attorneys; he told the court in a letter filed last year that he had "been having problems with my attorneys, and I don't trust them or their promises anymore."

Coughenour had sentenced Ressam to 22 years — a compromise between the 35 years sought by prosecutors and a 12 ½-year sentence his defense team said he had earned with his cooperation.

Both sides appealed, and the case has since been heard by panels of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals twice and the U.S. Supreme Court, and the case was sent back to Coughenour with orders to recalculate Ressam's prison time.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com