Judge Tosses Terror Funding Guilty Plea

Newsday ^ | May 11, 2004, 6:49 PM EDT | MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN

[Velveeta]

NEW YORK -- A judge on Tuesday threw out the guilty plea of an ice cream shop owner in Brooklyn whom prosecutors linked to funneling tens of thousands of dollars to al-Qaida and other terrorist networks.

Judge Charles P. Sifton said the Yemeni proprietor, Abad Elfgeeh, had not understood the consequences of his guilty plea to illegally transferring money to bank accounts in Yemen, Switzerland, Thailand and China.

FBI agents arrested Elfgeeh last year after learning that $20 million had passed through the bank accounts of his Brooklyn-based business from 1997 and 2003. He pleaded guilty in October.

Elfgeeh, a naturalized U.S. citizen, remained under house arrest.

"Nobody, but most importantly not Mr. Elfgeeh, was clearly advised (about) ...his rights to a jury trial with the prospect of facing the sentences that he now faces," Sifton said.

Court filings portray Elfgeeh, 49, as a vital link in a system that moved millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and Hamas. Prosecutors also believe Elfgeeh was an associate of Sheik Mohammed Hasa Al-Moayad, a prominent Yemeni cleric charged with funneling millions to al-Qaida before the Sept. 11 attacks.

[Velveeta]

Unbelievable!

[JoeSixPack1]

We're playing pattycake while their cutting our heads off! This is insane.

[Velveeta]

It is insane. I'm trying to find info on the Judge.

[anniegetyourgun]

"I didn't do anything wrong," Elfgeeh said as he left a federal court in Brooklyn. "America is still good ...It's still the best country in the world."

Good for what? For fundraising, perhaps?

"Records show al-Moayad had called Elfgeeh's ice cream shop and kept its number in his phone book, prosecutors said. Before his extradition, Al-Moayad also told an FBI agent that Elfgeeh had helped him raise money in the United States."

[Hodar]

"Nobody, but most importantly not Mr. Elfgeeh, was clearly advised (about) ...his rights to a jury trial with the prospect of facing the sentences that he now faces," Sifton said.

This is a good thing. If the book got thrown at him (and it likely will), he'd plea 'ignorance' and some liberals would let him off. Now, there is no way this degenerate can claim he didn't realize the seriousness of his crimes.

[patton]

NEW YORK -- A judge on Tuesday threw out the guilty plea of an ice cream shop owner in Brooklyn whom prosecutors linked to funneling tens of thousands of dollars to al-Qaida and other terrorist networks.

FBI agents arrested Elfgeeh last year after learning that $20 million had passed through the bank accounts of his Brooklyn-based business from 1997 and 2003. He pleaded guilty in October.

[Sacajaweau]

The judge WANTS a trial and isn't giving the dude a "copout". (I think that's what's going on).

[Velveeta]

This is THIS same Judge!

Judge Rules Against Nativity In New York Public Schools

NEW YORK, February 19, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - U.S. District Court Judge Charles Sifton ruled against the plaintiffs today in the discrimination suit against the New York City Department of Education's policy regarding "Holiday Displays".

***The policy allows the Jewish menorah and Islamic star and crescent while banning the Christian nativity scene.***

The Catholic League arranged for the Thomas More Law Center to file the suit in December 2002 on behalf of a Queens mother and her two children.

Sifton ruled that the policy is not unconstitutional and does not discriminate against Christians. In his decision, he wrote that the policy is secular in intent - the menorah and star and crescent have a secular dimension while the nativity scene is "purely religious."
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/feb/04021906.html

[Velveeta]

Good for: idiotic Judges

[neutrino]

The judge should be forced to watch the video of our murdered American civilian. Say, a hundred times or so.

Perhaps his views would change.

[steplock]

Impeach "Judge" Charles P. Sifton then we can simply hand his family his head.

THAT would be justice according his species.

[hattend]

FBI agents arrested Elfgeeh last year after learning that $20 million had passed through the bank accounts of his Brooklyn-based business from 1997 and 2003.

Maybe Treasury should be auditing him as well.

[VOA]

Impeach "Judge" Charles P. Sifton

I'll go with that. But I won't call for separating his head from the rest of his body.

Keeping them together will make b-tch-slapping sessions more animated and enjoyable.

Not that I'd advocate that sort of thing, ya understand.
(end legal boilerplate)

[Velveeta]

Nah, just put a leash around his neck and let a dog growl at him. That would be worse, right?

[VOA]

The judge WANTS a trial and isn't giving the dude a "copout".
(I think that's what's going on).

Maybe the judge is being a good guy and doing the right and legal thing.

BUT...it sure doesn't sound/look good, giving a TERRORIST ENABLER
a chance at getting a hung jury or not guilty at about the same time Nick Berg's
head is removed (very sloppily) from his body.

Myself, if I were part of an "advocay group" or a "victims rights group",
I'd be giving the judges past (and present) history a rectal exam.
And see if he's got any connection to Islamic or terrorist-sympathetic groups
that might have swayed his decision.
This would also include finding out where he got his $$$ if he ever ran for any offices.

[MizSterious]

Surely this article is from the Onion? I'm just stunned.

[Velveeta]

We're not allowed to post from the Onion.
(The Onion couldn't even make this stuff up!)

It's the real deal.
;-)

[steplock]

Man! Why would the Onion go against 90% of its readership?

They are going way down after pulling that leftist-extremist stunt.

Same with the "army-navy-marin-cg times" The pseudo leftist magazines that the media loves to quote as "military sources"

[gaspar]

The judge, a Brooklyn judge, is a tragic case of judicial extemism carried to an extreme. His decisions over the last six years have benefitted the evil and battered the good. His most recent beauty, earlier this year, was the judgement that the menorah and crescent were secular symbols while the Christian creche was a theological imposition and must never find a home in a secular venue. He is the posterjudge for everything wrong with the American legal system.