Posted on 08/12/2006 6:38:49 AM PDT by MNJohnnie
Holding up newspaper clippings depicting their clients during their high school football days, defense attorneys of two Michigan men charged with aiding in terrorism called them “All-American kids” who were arrested because of a rush to judgment based on their names and race.
Prosecutors say they are confident the men are linked to a terrorist network and filed additional felony charges Thursday relating to the buying and selling of specific microchips found in only a few types of cell phones.
The two men were arrested in Marietta Tuesday.
Authorities say the phones are being modified by terrorists to make untraceable international calls and also in the production of roadside bombs.
Charged after purchasing several of the phones in Marietta earlier this week were Osama Sabhi Abulhassan, 20, and Ali Houssaiky, 20, both of Dearborn, Mich. The two appeared Thursday in Marietta Municipal Court for a bond and arraignment hearing.
“They are All-American kids that unfortunately in this day and age — since9/11 — have names that call them into question,” said Rolf Baumgartel, retained counsel for Houssaiky, a Wayne State University student studying to become an elementary school teacher.
The defendants’ appearance in court Thursday was via teleconference, broadcast from the Washington County Jail. Their parents and other family members from the Dearborn, Mich., area were in attendance for the hearing. They declined to be interviewed by reporters.
Authorities say Abulhassan and Houssaiky admitted to buying more than 600 TracFones in the past month and reselling them to an individual in Dearborn, Mich.
Dearborn is a known location of several terrorist cells and most recently has been the site of rallies in support of the Islamic terrorist group, Hezbollah.
Baumgartel argued the defendants were selling the phones and chips to a legitimate business.
“They were being paid by check for the phones they purchased. This was not cash under the table or some hidden thing,” Baumgartel said. “These are college students. This is what college students do. They’re more willing to drive around to try to make money.”
Assistant Washington County Prosecutor Susan Vessels said Abulhassan and Houssaiky knew the phones were being used for illegal activity. She said the men were found in possession of a list detailing the specific types of phones to buy, based on the kind of microchips they use.
“Mr. Abulhassan made a statement to officers that he knew what they were doing was wrong and that he knew no one would ever use over 600 phones for legal purposes,” Vessels said. “(He also stated) he did not know for sure, but that he believed the phones and chips were being shipped overseas.”
Vessels also pointed to airport security and airline passenger information found in the pair’s vehicle.
Baumgartel said his client’s mother works for an airport near Dearborn and that the paperwork was part of a training seminar she attended. He said the men were traveling in her vehicle.
“It had been on the floor of the car for a few weeks, like stuff on the floor of everyone’s car — or at least in my family,” Baumgartel said. “Eventually you pick it up.”
Specifically, the men are each charged with third-degree felony soliciting or providing support for an act of terrorism; fourth-degree felony money laundering in support of terrorism; and first-degree misdemeanor falsification.
Bond was continued at $200,000 for each man, despite the new charges being added. In addition, Marietta Municipal Court Judge Janet Dyar-Welch asked the defendants to surrender their passports.
The maximum possible penalty on the charges is 61/2 years in prison and $16,000 in fines.
A preliminary hearing is set for 2 p.m. Tuesday in Marietta Municipal Court.
At the hearing, the state is expected to present evidence and testimony as to how they believe the men are linked to terrorism.
Ray Smith, Abulhassan’s court-appointed public defender, said the defendants are natural born citizens with no link to terror. He said his client is a student at the University of Michigan at Dearborn.
“What concerns me is that if his name was Joe Smith and he went in to purchase three to six cell phones somewhere we wouldn’t be here,” he said. “But because of his appearance and name we’re going to say, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s a terrorist.’”
In Dearborn, Houssaiky’s cousin Diana Chamalia, 15, said she was shocked by the accusations.
“Hopefully he’ll be coming back today because he’s innocent. People are mostly saying it’s discrimination right now,” she said.
Abulhassan is a junior at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The school’s directory lists him as a political science major.
Houssaiky had been enrolled at Wayne State University in Detroit as recently as May and was studying to be a physical therapist. He is not enrolled for the fall semester, university spokesman Tom Sakely said.
At Dearborn’s Fordson High School, the two friends were stars of the football team. Both were born in the United States to parents who immigrated from Lebanon, said Imad Hamad, midwest regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
In 2002, when Abulhassan was a sophomore, he told a Detroit Free Press columnist that he endured some teasing because he shares a first name with Osama bin Laden.
“He’s fighting for a cause like the United States is,” Abulhassan said of Bin Laden. “But he’s killing innocent people, and that makes him appear to be a bad guy.”
Hamad said he feared the men had fallen victim to what he called the “Dearborn syndrome” — when criminal charges are portrayed as terrorism-related because of the defendants’ Middle Eastern origin. Dearborn is the heart of southeastern Michigan’s large Arab community.
“I again caution for people not to rush to judgment for the sake of justice,” he said.
In recent years, Dearborn’s Arab community has been stung by cases in which authorities have accused people of terrorist connections on grounds that critics say were flimsy.
The Associated Press contributed.
The charges and possible penalties:
Soliciting or providing support for an act of terrorism: Charges the defendants did raise, solicit, collect, donate or provide any material support or resources, with purpose that the material support or resources will be used in whole or in part to plan, prepare, carry out or aid in either an act of terrorism or the concealment of, or an escape from, an act of terrorism.
The charge is a third-degree felony.
Possible penalty: One to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Money laundering in support of terrorism: Charges the defendants did know that the property is the proceeds of an act of terrorism or a monetary instrument given, received, or intended to be used in support of an act of terrorism, shall conduct or attempt to conduct any transaction involving that property or transport, transmit, or transfer that monetary instrument with the intent to further the commission of criminal activity.
The charge is a fourth-degree felony.
Possible penalty: Six to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Falsification: Charges the defendants did knowingly make a false statement, or knowingly swear or affirm the truth of a false statement previously made, and the statement is made with the purpose to mislead a public official in performing an official function.
The charge is a first-degree misdemeanor.
Possible penalty: Up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine (jail time out of a misdemeanor charge must run concurrent with any sentence issued out of a felony conviction).
Considering there have been several muslim "utes" found with hundreds of cell phones over the past week, I'm glad they feel like they're being profiled.
"Baumgartel said his client’s mother works for an airport near Dearborn"
Hell-o.
"...the men are each charged with third-degree felony soliciting or providing support for an act of terrorism; fourth-degree felony money laundering in support of terrorism; and first-degree misdemeanor falsification. "
Third-degree, fourth-degree?... Small time, waste of time and effort...
Nahhh, they're buying the phones and disassembling them for the components to make detonators.
Funny how there's no huge rush on phone 'cards' being reported, eh? That's cause, IMHO, they aren't using them to talk.
There's another thread on here, gotta go find it, that lists several of these types of purchase since 2005 at least. I found that interesting.
No, it's because of his name and his appearance and the fact he was going to drive all the way to South Carolina buying up 600 Tracfones along the way and he was carrying airport passenger information in the car and he admitted to the cops that the phone guts were going to be sent overseas. Y'know. Little stuff like that.
The people in Dearbornistan better start rooting these terrorists out from in their midst, or the next time we have something like a 9/11 or a 7/7, they aren't going to like what happens next. It won't be fair, and it won't be pretty, and it won't be something we should be proud of as Americans. But I really believe the next time one of their beloved homegrown terrorists gets lucky and we have another serious attack on our soil, they're going to get their "backlash," and it will be worse than they can imagine.
If they don't want the innocent targeted along with the guilty, then they'd better start giving up those they know are guilty.
}:-)4
Yeah I don't buy the lame story that they are making $5 off of each phone they resale.
Why not just go and buy wholesale direct if your intentions are to make capital.
Prayers for all who are flying without their scope and beauty lotion.
God the odor in the planes are going to smell funky.
Kinda like camel poop I suppose.
These 3 had a thousnd cell phones and apparently started in Texas before being found in Michigan.
http://www.wnem.com/Global/story.asp?S=5269589
Sure they're cheap phones but it's $20,000 worth of cheap phones.
EXCLUSIVE: Dearbornistan Terrorist's Mom Has Access to Passenger Lists on Many Flights; Connected w/ "Al-Jazeera" Air
So is this guy trying to present the image that if they played football, they are upstanding citizens? Where has he been?
"All American kids" my a$$!
Well that's not a big red flag, is it?
So much for the dumb idea from liberal bloggers that these people are just reselling disposal phones for a profit in the ME. This is a serious threat and I trust DHS is looking into other stuff these men or their associates have been buying.
Let's see, how many German Lutherans have been arrested lately for buying hundreds of prepaid cell phones, then reselling them for overseas consumption? That's all we read about, right?
No problem here folks. Let's move on now.
Thank you!
Never going through Detroit airport again.
Bye-bye NW Airlines......
According to this they do both.
"...modified by terrorists to make untraceable international calls."
Very interesting. Would they be going to that effort if it wasn't for the NYT? Probably not. They would just make their international calls in a more conventional manner and we would be intercepting. This is a case study of why the NYT needs to be brought up on Treason.
What the Fudge!?!?! If this guy was an "all American Kid" he would NOT have made this statement.
Yes, and there is another article out there, perhaps you read it already, that opines the reason for the 'upsurge' in cell phone purchases is because of the NYT sell-out story. Did you see that article?
And the pipe bombs found under cars in Oregon and Dallas this week were to be detonated by.....?
Please see my ealier post on this, or search FR.
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