It’s hard to find a good chicken-soup in Afghanistan.
A US-born militant who was previously convicted of conspiring to assist the Taliban said Thursday that he was once successfully treated for a bad cold with “honey and black seeds” by Osama bin Laden’s former deputy.
Testifying for the feds in the terror trial of handless hate preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri, James Ujaama told a Manhattan federal jury that Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri cured him with the concoction for a “very bad cold” in late 2000. Ujaama, 48, said he had become sick while in Kabul, Afghanistan running errands for al-Masri.
Al-Zawahiri – who became al Qaeda’s chief three years ago after bin Laden was killed by US forces – checked on Ujaama after the Seattle resident told al-Masri he was ill via a phone call to London.
“He treated me,” Ujaama told prosecutor John Cronan, who showed him a picture of the bearded al-Zawahiri. “He gave me a spoon of some honey and black seed … He was very caring”
Ujaama claimed he was better within “a day.”
Black seed oil is believed by some to have healing properties that could cure various illnesses.
Ujaama told the jury that he traveled to Afghanistan through Pakistan at al-Masri’s request. He said he was ordered to deliver 2,500 British pounds ($4,223 in US dollars today) to a girl’s school and split another 1500 pounds equally among three men, including an explosives expert with ties to al-Masri.
Ujaama said he had a falling out with al-Masri shortly after 9/11 because the one-eyed, hooked handed preacher kept insisting he go back to Afghanistan and deliver money to “some Arabs.” He said he refused because he was afraid “after hearing comments from” then-President George W. Bush” that being near Arabs would get him killed.
Al-Masri, 56, is accused of setting up a terrorist training camp in Oregon, conspiring in a 1998 kidnapping in Yemen that resulted in the deaths of four tourists and committing other terror crimes. He faces life in prison if convicted.