Posted on 01/04/2006 5:24:27 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday rejected bail for a Lodi man involved in a terrorism investigation, finding that his relatives could not properly post his $1.2 million bond.
U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott said he was gratified by the ruling, which overturned a decision last month by a federal magistrate who approved bail for Umer Hayat.
Hayat's attorney said he will appeal Wednesday's decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Hayat, 47, was arrested in June and charged with lying to the FBI by denying that his son attended an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan during 2003 and 2004.
His son, 23-year-old Hamid Hayat, was arrested the same day and faces charges of supporting terrorism and lying to investigators. He is being held without bail.
Three of Umer Hayat's relatives offered their property as insurance that he would not flee if released.
Among them was Hayat's 80-year-old uncle, who has suffered a stroke and has significant memory problems. U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. decided the uncle was not legally competent to post properties he owns in Lodi.
In addition, the uncle's property itself is inadequate to ensure Hayat doesn't leave the country, Burrell ruled.
By Don Thompson
ASSOCIATED PRESS12:23 a.m. March 3, 2006
SACRAMENTO - A government informant who is the key witness in a terrorism-related trial said Thursday that he began focusing on an Islamic school after the FBI sent him to a Central Valley town as part of its investigation into the region's Pakistani community. ...
No one from the mosque was ever criminally charged, although two imams and one of the imam's sons were deported to Pakistan on immigration violations.
Khan's testimony came at the end of the third week of Hamid Hayat's trial. The 23-year-old Lodi man is charged with attending an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan and then lying about it to federal investigators. His father, Umer, also is charged with lying to the FBI.
The Hayats are the only people charged in the federal government's terrorism probe of Lodi, a winemaking town about 35 miles south of Sacramento. The region has had a tight-knit community of Pakistani immigrants since the early 1900s. ...
Khan, whom the FBI code-named "Wildcat", told Mojaddidi that he was recruited while he was managing a convenience store in Oregon and said his arrangements with the FBI were informal at first.
"They asked me if I would be willing to help them with some work in the Sacramento area because I spoke the language. I said, 'Sure,'" Khan testified.
He said he received no training and no briefing on Pakistani politics.
The FBI started paying Khan $3,000 a month plus expenses in January 2002, a salary that later rose to $3,500 plus a number of $500 bonuses. Hayat's attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi, said Khan was paid a total of $218,900. ...
Hamid Hayat, a U.S. citizen, was arrested last June and is charged with three counts of making false statements to the FBI about attending the training camp and with providing material support to terrorists. He faces up to 39 years in prison if convicted.
Umer Hayat, 48, was arrested with his son and faces two counts of making false statements to the FBI about whether his son attended the camp. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Opening statements in Umer Hayat's portion of the trial are scheduled for Tuesday, while Hamid Hayat's jury is to return March 13. Both juries are set to be brought together for the first time on March 14 to hear testimony that affects both father and son.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20060303-0023-ca-terrorprobe.html
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