Bail Set for Student Held in Terror Probe

A federal judge set bail Tuesday at $500,000 for a college student arrested as a material witness in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying the evidence against him is "not particularly strong."

Osama Awadallah, 21, a student at Grossmont College in El Cajon, can be freed until his perjury trial if bail is posted. He is charged with lying to a grand jury in New York about knowing one of two Sept. 11 hijackers who lived in San Diego.

U.S. District Judge Sandra Scheindlin in Manhattan wrote: "It must be remembered that this defendant is charged with making false declarations--not with terrorism."