Lodi man refuses to testify in Hayat bond hearing

A Lodi man invoked the 5th amendment Monday at a federal bail hearing, refusing to testify further about his relationship with his cousin, Umer Hayat.

Safdar Afzal had appeared in court last week, where he testified for the defense and said he was willing to use his property as bond for Hayat, who remains jailed on a charge of lying to the FBI.

But after Afzal himself admitted to lying and prosecutors began questioning him last Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd appointed Afzal an attorney and halted the hearing.

Though Hayat's attorney asked government prosecutors to grant Afzal immunity, they refused to do so and told the judge Monday that they still had not decided whether to prosecute Afzal.

Drozd said during the court proceeding that it seemed to be like a "tempest in a teapot" and found it hard to believe that the government would prosecute someone over what he told FBI agents about his relationship with his cousin.

Hayat is charged with one count of lying to federal agents about his knowledge of terrorist training camps in Pakistan. His son, Hamid Hayat, is charged with two counts of lying to the FBI about terrorism, as well as a count of providing material support to terrorists.

Both men have pleaded not guilty, and no trial date has been set.Umer Hayat's attorney, Johnny L. Griffin III, told the judge that the government had plenty of information to make a decision, and he accused them of merely using it as a stall tactic.

"The government, simply put, just did not like (Afzal's) testimony," he said.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Ferris said it is too soon to make a prosecution decision because further investigation must be done.

Until his testimony was interrupted last week, Afzal had told of his relationship with Umer Hayat. He admitted that, when the FBI first arrested the Hayats, he told agents that he wasn't close to Umer Hayat. In court, though, he said he saw the man regularly until the Hayats were arrested in June during a terror investigation.

"At the outset of the conversation, he was afraid. I can see everyone in Lodi who is not white Anglo-Saxon Protestant being afraid when they're interviewed, but that doesn't mean they're going to lie," his attorney, Michael Bigelow, said.

The attorney, who got the case late Tuesday, talked to his client and the government on Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. He accused the government of ignoring cultural differences regarding the way Pakistani families share property and pass it down through generations.

"In my heart of hearts, based on my experience in this court and in other courts, I believe (Afzal) would be found not guilty. ... But I can't permit any client to be exposed to that liability," Bigelow said.

Drozd excused Afzal from the remainder of the hearing, and Ferris then asked him to strike all of Afzal's testimony from the court record. Drozd took the matter under consideration and could rule as soon as today, when the hearing continues.

Griffin had called Afzal and two other Lodi residents to testify about the total of four homes they had offered to use as Umer Hayat's $1.2 million bail. Though a judge had granted it, the government appealed and Umer Hayat remains in the Sacramento County jail until the issue is resolved.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.