Posted on 01/12/2004 3:19:15 PM PST by Holly_P
BOISE, Idaho — The University of Idaho graduate student held for nearly a year on visa fraud charges pleaded innocent on Monday to the additional charge of supporting terrorism.
Sami Omar Al-Hussayen appeared only briefly before U.S. Magistrate Mikel Williams. Williams postponed Al-Hussayen's trial date from Jan. 20 to Feb. 17 and said both sides could put motions before U.S. Judge Edward Lodge — who will preside over the trial — if they wanted the date postponed longer.
Defense attorney David Nevin has accused federal prosecutors of trying to delay the trial by securing the federal indictment last Friday on information the government has had since Al-Hussayen, who is from Saudi Arabia, was originally arrested last February.
"It's very, very troubling that these charges were filed at the 11th hour and the 59th minute," Nevin said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Lindquist said the newest charge came so late because it took federal investigators that long to sift through the evidence seized after Al-Hussayen's arrest.
"His computer contains massive amounts of information that we're still trying to assimilate," Lindquist said. "It's taken us this long to get through the computer information."
The indictment claims Al-Hussayen, 34, a computer science student, knew his computer services and expertise on behalf of Islamic organizations and two sheiks would be used to recruit people and raise money for holy wars, especially in Palestine and Chechnya.
Al-Hussayen has already been found to be eligible for deportation back to his home in Saudi Arabia but has been detained to stand trial on the criminal charges. His wife and children are under an immigration order to leave the country by March 6.
The new indictment formalized the allegations federal agents have been making against Al-Hussayen since they raided his home on the university's Moscow campus before dawn to arrest him last Feb. 26.
The government claims Al-Hussayen maintained several bank accounts in Indiana, Texas, Idaho and Michigan to siphon large sums to the Islamic Assembly of North America, based in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The indictment said Al-Hussayen maintained Web sites for the assembly as well as the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a Saudi-based charity, and others linked to terrorism.
The indictment said he posted one e-mail urging Muslims to "fight the idolater with your money, your selves, your tongue and your prayers."
But Al-Hussayen's attorney, Nevin, said the indictment was a carefully worded attempt to mislead people into believing Al-Hussayen was the author of those opinions. Instead, Nevin claimed, his client was essentially being charged for receiving e-mail.
If convicted on the new indictment, Al-Hussayen faces up to 15 years in prison, but any punishment would be based on a pre-sentencing report. There is no minimum sentence.
Given the wildly varying standards of Arabic-to-English transliteration, is it possible that this guy is related to Saddam?
With a name like this, how could he possibly be considered a terrorist? Little old ladies like Tweety-Bird's granny fit the profile of the typical terrorist. Don't believe me? Just go to the nearest airport and see for yourself.
http://www.klewtv.com/x5781.xml?ParentPageID=x5649&ContentID=x54158&Layout=KLEW.xsl&AdGroupID=x5781
June 10, 2004
"AL-HUSSAYEN NOT GUILTY"
(BOISE-AP)
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http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040610/NEWS01/40610004
"Juror: Government showed no evidence of Al-Hussayen's guilt"
Edition Date: 06-10-2004
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