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SNIPPET: "NEW YORK — A jury convicted a Lebanese-born Swede on Tuesday of plotting to help Al Qaeda recruit by trying to set up a weapons-training post in Oregon and distributing terrorist training manuals over the Internet. The verdict against Oussama Kassir..."

NEW YORK — Speaking publicly for the first time, former Seattle resident James Ujaama testified Tuesday about his efforts in 1999 to create a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon for would-be jihad warriors wishing to take up the fight against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. Among the instructors would be Oussama Kassir, a Swedish jihadist who once bragged he had been a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden. Ujaama, appearing thin and graying and dressed in oversized prison overalls, took the witness stand in the terrorism conspiracy trial of Kassir, who is accused of traveling from London to the...

Oussama Abdullah Kassir, 43, who was extradited from the Czech Republic on terrorism charges in 2007, faces multiple charges including supporting al-Qaeda by attempting to set up the camp in rural Oregon from 1999 to early 2000 and later setting up websites on explosives and poisons.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- A Swedish citizen wanted in the U.S. on suspicion of plotting to set up a terrorist camp there was extradited Tuesday from the Czech Republic, officials said. Czech Justice minister Jiri Pospisil ruled on Sept 18 there was no reason to refuse a U.S. extradition request for Oussama Kassir, spokeswoman Zuzana Kuncova said. Kassir left the country by plane on Tuesday bound for the United States, said Kuncova. Kassir was arrested on Dec. 11, 2005, at Prague's Ruzyne international airport while flying from Stockholm, Sweden, to Beirut, Lebanon. He has been held in a Czech prison...

"More details have emerged about the arrest in Prague on Sunday of a person described by the Swedish media as "Osama bin Laden's man in Sweden." The man, a 39-year-old Swede of Lebanese origin, is now in custody awaiting a decision on whether extradition proceedings can begin against him. " ~snip~ "Mr Kassir was on a Czech Airlines flight from Stockholm to Beirut, where he hoped to be reunited with members of his family. The plane had a brief stopover in Prague, and as soon as he stepped onto Czech soil he was approached by members of an elite police...

Abu Hamza, the militant, London-based Muslim cleric, maintained close contact with the leadership of al-Qa'eda during the years when it operated a worldwide terrorist network from Afghanistan, according to FBI files. Documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph state that Hamza, the former imam of Finsbury Park mosque, north London, dealt personally with Abu Zubeidah, Osama bin Laden's director of operations. Zubeidah, a Palestinian who is now in US custody, communicated bin Laden's instructions and messages from his hideout in Afghanistan to al-Qa'eda cells around the world. Hamza had the power to refer recruits to Zubeidah for "leadership training" in Afghan...

A 39-year-old Swede accused of terrorism by the United States has been arrested in Prague, Swedish tabloid Expressen reported on Tuesday. The man, who was not identified, is wanted by the US CIA spy agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which accuse him of being terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden's "man in Sweden", Expressen wrote. The US has tried to obtain his extradition for several years, accusing him of setting up Al Qaeda training camps in the US state of Oregon in 1999, but Sweden has refused to hand him over, the paper said. The man was on a...

A suspect in the London bombings lived in a Central Seattle mosque in early 2000 after he had scouted out a possible terrorist training camp in Bly, Ore. Aswat came to the Northwest in 1999 when James Ujaama, a former Seattle activist, tried to set up a jihad training camp in rural Oregon. During that time, Aswat and Kassir "met potential candidates for jihad training, they established security for the Bly property through the use of guard patrols and passwords, and they and others participated in firearms training and viewed a video recording on the subject of improvised poisons," according...

WASHINGTON, June 9 - The United States has received "credible information" that Syrian operatives in Lebanon plan to try to assassinate senior Lebanese political leaders and that Syrian military intelligence forces are returning to Lebanon to create "an environment of intimidation," a senior administration official said Thursday. The official said that the information had come from "a variety of Lebanese sources" and that "we assess it as credible." The information, he said, was gathered after the recent assassinations of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February, and of Samir Kassir, a well-known journalist, a week ago. Both were outspoken critics...

A militant Muslim who reportedly traveled from London to Oregon in 1999 to scout out a possible terrorist training camp has been arrested in Sweden. The arrest yesterday of Oussama Kassir — who authorities say once boasted of being "a hit man" for Osama bin Laden — appears linked to the federal investigation into Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical London cleric accused of sending Kassir to the United States to help James Ujaama, of Seattle, and others train for jihad. Ujaama pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to supply goods and services to the Taliban in Afghanistan. As part of...

Tuesday, September 03, 2002, 12:00 a.m. Pacific'I love bin Laden ... I hate Bush': Man connected to Ujaama, hijacking suspect speaks outBy David HeathSeattle Times staff reporter A Swedish citizen suspected of conspiring with a former Seattle man to open a terrorist training camp in Oregon also has links to a Swede suspected of planning to hijack an airliner in Europe last week. Oussama Kassir, 36, an unemployed engineer in Stockholm, was an unnamed and uncharged co-conspirator in the indictment of James Ujaama last week. Federal officials say Kassir and another man went to Bly, Ore., with Ujaama in late...

Man indicted in Seattle on charges of setting up Oregon training camp for al Qaeda members. Details to come. For the latest news, watch CNN or log on to