Posted on 01/12/2004 5:04:03 PM PST by wallcrawlr
CHICAGO - A community newspaper publisher accused of spying on Iraqi dissidents in the United States was found guilty Monday of serving as an unregistered agent for Saddam Hussein. The jury took less than two hours to convict Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi after the weeklong trial.
"This sends an important message that people can't come to our country and spy on their fellow residents," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said.
Dumeisi, 61, was convicted of failing to obey a federal law that requires agents of foreign governments to register with the Justice Department.
Prosecutors maintained that the Palestinian-born Dumeisi spied on Iraqi dissidents because he was desperate for money and admired Saddam Hussein as the only true friend of the Palestinian cause in the Mideast. They cited evidence of at least $3,000 in payments from the Iraqis to the debt-ridden publisher.
The jury also convicted him of conspiring not to register, lying to an immigration officer and lying to a federal grand jury. Dumeisi faces up to 25 years in prison at sentencing March 30, but he is likely to get much less time under federal sentencing guidelines.
Dumeisi was not charged with espionage, nor was he accused of terrorism.
His tiny suburban newspaper, Al Mahjar, was full of articles critical of U.S. Mideast policy and praising the now-deposed Iraqi leader.
Prosecutors launched the trial by showing a videotape of a speech Dumeisi gave at a birthday party in honor of Saddam at the Iraqi mission to the United Nations in New York. Prosecutors said the U.N. mission was a hotbed of intelligence agents.
In the speech, he referred to Saddam as "our great leader" and "our inspired leader" and praised him for missile attacks against Israel, "the Zionist stronghold," at the time of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Witnesses said Dumeisi received training in spying on a trip to Baghdad and even got a pen that was actually a combination tape recorder and camera.
During his closing argument, Dumeisi's lawyer urged jurors not to let his client's praise for Saddam rush them into a conviction, even though they might find his views "despicable."
"Reaching a verdict of not guilty does not in any way endorse his very dubious opinions," John Murphy said. "Quite frankly, I don't like them either."
Don't forget Willy and Hitlary - Chinagate. They did more damage to the long term security of America than Julius and Ethel: China, thanks to them, now has the detailed designs of the latest nuclear weaponry, thus saving itself years of development and billions of $.
I'd pick the one from NY in a NY minute. And then the one from Massachusetts. And then....
No, you have to work for the U.S. government to be able to do that....
Sorry, couldn't resist.
I'm all for it, and would love to see more of the same. So Patrick, when are ya'll gonna show US Americans the same respect? Blackbird.
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