US trial of UAE officer hits snag

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island–The case against a United Arab Emirates naval officer accused of keeping an unpaid servant hit another major roadblock Thursday after the defense alleged that the government may have broken rules about sharing evidence.

US Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi is expected to hear arguments on Friday as to how to proceed with the trial of Colonel Arif Mohamed Saeed Mohamed Al-Ali. Defense attorney Robert C. Corrente flagged multiple examples where he said he was not provided with evidence the government collected during its investigation.

The prosecution has already been beset with problems with an interpreter provided to Al-Ali’s former maid, Elizabeth Cabitla Ballesteros. On Thursday, Lisi also threw out testimony Ballesteros delivered Monday, citing the interpreter’s failure to relay the questions posed to the witness and her responses verbatim.

Prosecutors hired the interpreter for Ballesteros, who is from the Philippines and speaks Tagalog. Lisi said the government is looking for a new interpreter to assist Ballesteros; she will testify again later in the trial.

Al-Ali is accused of withholding Ballesteros’ wages, making her work long hours, taking her passport and keeping her from speaking to outsiders while working for him in his Rhode Island home while he attended the Naval War College in Newport.

The evidence sharing issues center on text messages between Ballesteros and another Filipino woman, Cecelia Heredya. Ballesteros met Heredya in August 2010 during a picnic for foreign military officers attending the war college. Ballesteros provided Heredya with a piece of paper with her cell phone on it and asked for help.

The women exchanged text messages in the weeks leading up to Ballesteros’ escape from Al-Ali’s home in East Greenwich on Oct. 7, 2010.

Two translations of the text messages were produced. One translation was done by a lawyer for Ballesteros in New York. The other was done by a translator hired by federal prosecutors. AP