FEDS HOPING TO CLOAK TERROR TRIAL WITNESS

Federal prosecutors want to protect the identity of an FBI informant who is prepared to testify in an upcoming Boston terrorism trial, arguing that the defendant in the case — accused of supporting ISIS — has made threats against the source.

“This is an FBI confidential source who has agreed to testify in this matter,” Assistant U.S. Attorney B. Stephanie Siegmann said during a hearing yesterday. “He is going to testify as to critical evidence in the case, and the government is seeking, for security measures, to prevent the public disclosure of his identity.”

The informant is expected to testify against David Daoud Wright, formerly of Everett, who is accused of conspiring to provide material support to ISIS, conspiring to commit acts of terrorism and obstruction of justice.

Siegmann said Wright has made “threats against this confidential source” in the past and argued that prosecutors want to do everything they can to keep his name out of the public eye.

U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young interrupted Siegmann as she made her plea, saying that he was not prepared to make any decisions on the issue because he was “blindsided” by prosecutors.

“I didn’t intend, nor do I intend, to get into that,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about it. You’ve blindsided me.”

Young said he will hear prosecutors’ arguments in early September. Wright’s trial, which is expected to last two weeks, is scheduled to start Sept. 18.

Wright is accused of being part of a 2015 terrorism-related conspiracy that involved a plot to kill conservative blogger Pamela Geller. Prosecutors say Nicholas Rovinski plotted with Wright and Wright’s uncle, Usaamah Rahim, to behead Geller.

Rahim was killed in June 2015 by investigators who said he lunged at them with a knife when they approached him in Boston. Rovinski pleaded guilty last year to providing material support to the Islamic State.

Investigators say Islamic State group recruiter Junaid Hussain, who communicated instructions to kill Geller, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Syria.

StAff fILE photo bY JohN WILCox PLOT TWIST: David Daoud Wright is led away by police after his arrest on terrorism charges in 2015. Prosecutors asked a federal judge to conceal the identity of a witness in the case, citing threats they say Wright made to the informant.