Who's Protecting America's Children: Part 2
by Laura Mansfield
If you find it concerning that convicted terrorists and Al Qaeda-trained agents could get jobs teaching in America's schools, and driving school busses carrying America's greatest treasures, our children, then you will probably be concerned with the case of school official Kifah Jayyousi, who was charged alongside accused dirty bomb plotter Jose Padilla of conspiracy to murder US nationals.
Jayyousi has had an excellent career in the schools and universities of America. According to the Detroit Free Press:
Jayyousi worked as a senior engineer at the University of California-Irvine before he was hired in 1997 as assistant superintendent for physical facilities and capital improvement at Detroit Public Schools.
In Detroit, he was responsible for overseeing the early stages of spending of the $1.5-billion school bond. During his tenure, the bond program was mired in two controversies: skepticism about the costs associated with a construction program led by then-Wayne County prosecutor candidate Mike Duggan and the firing of a minority company that managed the bond program, which led to a lawsuit against the district.
Jayyousi served an adjunct engineering professor at WayneStateUniversity.
From 1999 to 2001, he was chief facilities director for public schools in Washington from 1999 to 2001.
But Jayyousi was arrested in March 2005 on charges of fundraising and recruiting fighters for violent jihad. In November 2005, Jayyousi, along with Jose Padilla and three other men, were charged with conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and providing material support to terrorists as part of a North American terrorist support cell.
On March 31, 2005, CNN ran an article, excerpted below, about a former top official in the WashingtonDC schools being held on charges of conspiracy to raise money and recruit fighters for jihad.
The story goes on to describe the charges against Kifah Wael Jayyousi:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/31/terror.suspect.arrest/
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former top official for the District of Columbia's public schools is being held on charges of conspiring to raise money and recruit fighters for Muslim extremists.
Kifah Wael Jayyousi, arrested Sunday at an airport in Detroit, Michigan, was chief facilities director for public schools in Washington from 1999 to 2001. But in the years running up to that high-profile position, he supported "violent jihad" in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya and Somalia, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday.
Jayyousi's arrest is connected to the investigation of The Global Relief Foundation and what federal authorities allege was a network providing material support to terrorists, mostly through supposed charities.
Jayyousi, a U.S. citizen originally from Jordan, is accused of conspiring with Adham Amin Hassoun, who has been in U.S. custody since 2002. Also charged in the criminal complaint is Kassem Daher, described in an FBI affidavit as living in Lebanon.
Jayyousi was arrested by FBI agents at DetroitMetroAirport after a computer check by customs officials showed an outstanding arrest warrant for him. He was arriving from Doha, Qatar.
His attorney, William Swor, said Jayyousi was working in a contract engineering job in Doha and was traveling to Detroit to visit his father, who was scheduled to undergo open-heart surgery.
Swor said Jayyousi had been interviewed by the FBI eight times in the past. Before he left for the job in Doha, Jayyousi contacted the U.S. government, reported his plans and offered to meet with government representatives, Swor said. Federal officials then searched Jayyousi's home before returning his passport to him.
The criminal complaint against Jayyousi, 43, was filed in Miami, Florida, in December, and cites an investigation that began in 1993. It alleges that Jayyousi and his two co-conspirators set up nonprofit charities through which they raised money and recruited fighters for jihadi groups affiliated with al Qaeda.
The charities include American Islamic Group and American Worldwide Relief. In one instance, Jayyousi is described as having recruited a person to provide satellite phones to Chechen mujahedeen commanders.
It was in 1993 that the Omar Abdel Rahman was arrested and charged with plotting to blow up several New York landmarks. Abdel Rahman, now serving a life sentence, was a spiritual leader of Egypt's largest Islamic militant group, al-Gama'a al-Islamiya.
An FBI agent's affidavit describes Jayyousi as a "supporter and follower" of Abdel Rahman and says that in 1994 and 1995, investigators intercepted phone conversations between the two men.
"Jayyousi would update [Abdel Rahman] with jihad news, many times reading accounts and statements issued directly by terrorist organizations," the affidavit says.
Jayyousi's lawyer said his client lived in Detroit before he lived in Washington and returned to Detroit after his public schools job. There, he was teaching at WayneStateUniversity, but went on sabbatical leave in September 2003 to take the contract job in Doha. His wife and three daughters accompanied him, while his two sons remained in Detroit attending college.
In an apparent contradiction, the criminal complaint says Jayyousi moved to Egypt in 2003.
Jayyousi was ordered held in custody at a court hearing in Detroit on Monday. He will face trial in U.S. District Court in Miami where, his lawyer said, he plans to plead not guilty.
On November 17, a Federal Grand Jury in Miami brought back an 11-count superseding indictment charging five men, including accused dirty bomb plotter Jose Padilla with conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and providing material support to terrorists as part of a North American terrorist support cell. The following is an excerpt from a report I published on LauraMansfield.com about the incident in November 2005:
November 22, 2005: Accused "dirty-bomb plotter" Jose Padilla, 3 others Charged with Conspiracy to Murder U.S. Nationals Overseas, Providing Material Support to Terrorists
A federal grand jury in Miami has returned an 11-count superseding indictment that charges Jose Padilla and four additional defendants with conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and providing material support to terrorists as part of a North American terrorist support cell.
The indictment, returned by the grand jury on Nov. 17, 2005 and unsealed today, charges Padilla with conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists. The indictment also charges for the first time a Canadian national named Kassem Daher, who is believed to be overseas. The three other defendants named in the indictment - Adham Hassoun, Mohamed Youssef and Kifah Jayyousi - had been previously charged with terrorism-related crimes. "The indictment of Jose Padilla and his associates in an alleged North American terrorist support cell demonstrates that we will use every tool at our disposal in vigorously fighting the war on terrorism," said Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. "Through the use of such tools, including vital provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, we are able to bring criminal prosecutions that strike at the heart of terrorist activities."
The indictment alleges that Padilla traveled overseas to receive violent jihad training and to fight violent jihad, which would include acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming, from October 1993 to November 2001. On July 24, 2000, Padilla allegedly filled out a "Mujahideen Data Form" in preparation for violent jihad training in Afghanistan. Mohamed Youssef, one of the co-defendants in the case, allegedly reported in September 2000 that Padilla is "supposed to be at Usama's," and then reported that he had "entered into the area of Usama." Other co-conspirators reported Padilla being in Afghanistan in October 2000, according to the indictment.
The indictment alleges that the named defendants were part of a North American support cell designed to send money, physical assets and mujahideen recruits to overseas jihad conflicts. The cell allegedly operated from many cities in the United States and Canada, and supported and coordinated with other support networks and mujahideen groups waging violent jihad. If convicted of the offenses in the indictment, Padilla and his co-defendants face maximum sentences of life in prison.
By the way, Jayyousi has requested that charges against him be dismissed.
Why?
Because his jailers "disrespectfully tossed Hassoun's Quran on his bunk and left 8,000 pages of trial papers in disarray".
From the Associated Press:
MIAMI -- Attorneys for two terrorism suspects tied to an alleged al-Qaida dirty bomb suspect are asking for the dismissal of a federal indictment against them based on a jailer's mishandling of a Quran and intimidating jail cell searches that removed handwritten papers in Arabic.
The defense claims the seizures from the cells of Adhan Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi in May and June amount to government misconduct and an unconstitutional intrusion on trial preparation.
Jailers also disrespectfully tossed Hassoun's Quran on his bunk and left 8,000 pages of trial papers in disarray, his attorney Kenneth Swartz said in motions filed Friday.
Hassoun, a Lebanese-born Palestinian, and Jayyousi, a Jordanian national and U.S. citizen, face possible life prison sentences on charges of plotting to fund and support Islamic jihad through murder and kidnappings abroad, including Bosnia, Chechnya and Somalia.
``By depriving the defendants of the confidentiality of their own case-related notes, the government has destroyed any possible confidence that their case can be prepared with privacy,'' the men's attorneys wrote.
The defense also is asking for an order to either release the men from solitary confinement or on house arrest. Alicia Valle, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, said Monday that prosecutors would respond in writing, but both motions said the federal trial attorney opposed them.
Messages left at the downtown jail where the men are detained by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons were not immediately returned. The defense said the warden responded to a March request by Hassoun for a change in jail conditions by saying he was a ``security threat.''
The FederalDetentionCenter has held other inmates deemed administrative risks, notably drug kingpins, in solitary for years despite defense protests.
On the Quran, a jail officer took a piece of paper with Arabic writing, but Hassoun explained that he had copied an excerpt from the holy book and showed him the matching text. The officer returned the paper and tossed the Quran on the bed.
``Even the U.S. military has said that's not the kind of treatment you give a holy book, so I guess FDC hasn't come to that conclusion,'' Swartz said Monday.
Permalink: BLOG.LAURAMANSFIELD.COM/2006/05/24/whos-protecting-americas-children--part-2.aspx
>>>>From 1999 to 2001, he was chief facilities director for public schools in Washington from 1999 to 2001. <<<<<
I'm having disturbing flash backs to the bomb that was built into the stadium in Chechnya.