NEW YORK -- A federal judge said yesterday that he would appoint a new lawyer for the man accused of masterminding the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center because personal differences had cropped up between the defendant and his court-appointed lawyer.
Neither the judge, Kevin Thomas Duffy, nor the lawyer, Avraham C. Moskowitz, would describe the nature of the differences, but Mr. Moskowitz, who is Jewish, said religion was one of them.
The defendant, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, is accused of being part of a militant Islamic group that planned a war of urban terrorism against the United States, in part because of its support of Israel.
At a hearing yesterday in U.S. District Court in New York City, Judge Duffy suggested that Mr. Yousef did not fully understand the American legal system. The judge said he believed that Mr. Moskowitz was capable of laying aside his personal differences with Mr. Yousef and ably defending him.
Nevertheless, Judge Duffy said he wanted to avoid any rTC appearance that Mr. Yousef was receiving less than the best legal advice.
"There may be some suspicion, some suggestion, that he will do less than a professional job, and I don't want to take that chance," Judge Duffy said.
Mr. Moskowitz, a former federal prosecutor, was chosen at random by the court Sunday night because he was on call the day before Mr. Yousef was arraigned. After yesterday's hearing, Mr. Moskowitz would not elaborate on the reasons for the judge's decision, saying that his differences with Mr. Yousef were "personal."
"The potential problems relate to private matters that I am not going to discuss," he said. "What I can tell you is this: We got along. I was able to provide him with my best advice despite the differences in our backgrounds."
Asked if religion was one of the problems, Mr. Moskowitz said, "That is a fair statement."
Judge Duffy said he would appoint a new lawyer this week.