Posted on 12/04/2003 3:10:56 AM PST by kattracks
BUFFALO, N.Y. - A Yemeni-American who attended an Al Qaeda training camp and met Osama Bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday for providing material support to Al Qaeda.Mukhtar al-Bakri, 23, was the first defendant sentenced in the Lackawanna Six case held up by the Bush administration as a model in prosecuting terror suspects. U.S. Attorney Michael Battle said the case would provide precedent for what had been a little-used federal law that prohibits giving money, weapons or other tangible support to foreign groups deemed terrorist.
But even as al-Bakri was being sentenced yesterday, a federal appeals court in California struck down part of the law, ruling it unconstitutionally blurs the line between protected and unprotected expression.
The Lackawanna case isn't governed by the 9th Circuit decision, but if it survives a Supreme Court appeal, it could hurt the government's prime domestic anti-terror strategy.
Al-Bakri was taken into custody in the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain on Sept. 10, 2002, a day after his wedding.
Authorities considered him dangerous because of an E-mail he sent in July titled "The Big Meal" that suggested an attack using explosives was imminent, and because of an intercepted phone call in which al-Bakri joked that friends would not be seeing him anymore.
His attorney John Molloy has said al-Bakri was referring to his impending wedding.
The Associated Press
Originally published on December 4, 2003
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