Excerpt:
Sami Osmakac is asking taxpayers to provide him traditional Arab clothing for him to wear when he goes on trial next week on charges he plotted a terrorist attack in Tampa.
Osmakac's lawyer told a federal magistrate this morning that Osmakac's family doesn't want to pay to clothe him in a robe garment called a thobe and a head wrap known as a keffiyeh. Lawyer George Tragos said he couldn't say why Osmakac wants to wear the clothes. U.S. Magistrate Anthony Porcelli planned to confer with District Judge Mary Scriven about what clothing might be available for Osmakac to wear.
The judge has previously given Osmakac permission not to stand when the judge or jury enters the courtroom because of his religious beliefs. Potential jurors will be asked whether they can still be fair to him, given that belief.