Posted on 03/05/2004 7:59:40 AM PST by writer33
Revised indictment alleges Al-Hussayen ran Web sites, raised money for terrorists
A University of Idaho computer student managed Web sites and helped raise money for the terrorist organization Hamas -- all from his quiet Moscow campus, a new indictment alleges.
The indictment is the third and most serious version of charges to be filed against Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a computer sciences doctoral student when he was arrested in February 2003.
He is now accused of fund raising for Hamas, whose terrorist cells promote suicide bombings and violence in Israel and elsewhere as part of a holy war.
Al-Hussayen helped create and maintain various Web sites associated with nonprofit groups suspected of terrorist ties, the indictment alleges.
The groups are identified as the Islamic Assembly of North America, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and a third group known as Dar Al-Asr.
Al-Hussayen was the Webmaster or techni-cal consultant for two Internet sites which both solicited funds and support for Hamas, according to documents.
"Sami is not guilty of these charges," said defense attorney David Nevin.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Idaho has continued to modify its charges against Al-Hussayen in response to defense filings, Nevin said.
"The charges are basically moving targets and show he's not guilty," Nevin said.
Federal investigators said the second superseding indictment was warranted because the complex investigation continues to reveal new incriminating evidence.
The new indictments allege Al-Hussayen supervised an Islamic Internet radio station and administered another Web site designed to carry live speeches from Islamic extremists.
Al-Hussayen, 34, also is accused of providing Internet-related services to two radical sheiks in his native Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi sheiks used Internet sites to issue fatwahs -- religious edicts. They justified the holy war against non-Muslims and supported the terrorist violence of al Qaeda, the indictment alleges.
Al-Hussayen came to the United States in 1994 and attended universities in Indiana and Texas before transferring to the University of Idaho in 1999 to get a doctorate in computer science.
During that time, he frequently returned to his native Saudi Arabia and traveled elsewhere. Upon returning to the United States, he is accused of lying to immigration officials about his activities and affiliations.
He has been in jail for 13 months and is scheduled to stand trial on April 13 in Boise.
His trial date could be postponed after his arraignment on the new indictment on Monday.
The new indictment was officially announced in Washington, D.C., by Attorney General John Ashcroft -- one indicator of the high-profile nature of the investigation.
"Terrorists increasingly use the Internet to communicate their evil plans and to garner recruits, money and other material support for the violent activities," Ashcroft said in a prepared statement.
"We will aggressively pursue and prosecute those who use their specialized computer skills to knowingly and intentionally support such terrorist conspiracies," the attorney general said.
Tom Moss, the U.S. attorney for Idaho, and Jim McDevitt, the U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington, attended a Justice Department press conference where the indictment was announced.
"It is a significant case," McDevitt said later in an telephone interview.
The indictment shows the trail to terrorism can lead to semiremote corners of the United States, like Moscow, Idaho, and not just in big cities like New York and Washington, D.C., McDevitt said.
The two federal prosecutors oversee the Inland Northwest Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is handling the Al-Hussayen investigation from its office in Spokane.
Its investigators have spent the past three years tracking bank records and volumes of computer files, most of them in Arabic, requiring translation.
The investigators detailed their findings before a grand jury panel, secretly convened in Boise, which returned the new indictment.
Al-Hussayen is now charged with conspiracy and providing and concealing material support or resources to terrorists.
A third count charges him with conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. That count refers to the Islamic Resistance Group, more commonly known as Hamas.
The jihadists embrace Islamic fundamentalism and promote violence against the United States and other countries, including Afghanistan, Chechnya, Israel, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Two Web sites created and controlled by Al-Hussayen included pages devoted to violent jihad -- or holy war -- against Israel, according to the indictment.
But he also secretly moderated an Islamic fundamentalist e-mail group, known as "qoqaz," with 2,400 subscribers worldwide.
A day before his arrest, the e-mail group posted an "urgent appeal" to Muslims serving in the U.S. military.
The posting solicited information about potential Western targets for terrorist attacks, particularly in the Middle East.
The posting talked about U.S. military bases, American oil companies, weapons storage facilities and routes taken by oil tankers, the indictment says.
"The posting also exhorted other (jihadists) to attack a specifically identified high-ranking American military official," the indictment says.
According to the indictment, Al-Hussayen had posted material justifying the virtues of jihad; that it "glorified those who die in battle" and such martyrs "have their own place in heaven close to Allah."
Let's all say it together. "Student Visa=Diversity." Edcuation reform anyone?
"Sami is not guilty of these charges," said defense attorney David Nevin.
Isn't this sweet. Poor little Sami. :(
He suffers so on his Student Visa. I can tell you what he can do with his Visa.
A Phd in Computer Science? Why do I even bother to follow the rule of law? Maybe because I'm an American?
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