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ADDING 1 press release to MamaDearest’s post no. 500:

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://cleveland.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2008/terroristacts061308.htm

For Release: June 13, 2008

U.S. Department of Justice

Three Convicted of Conspiring to Commit Terrorist Acts Against Americans Overseas

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A federal jury in the Northern District of Ohio has convicted three Ohio residents, Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 28, Marwan Othman El-Hindi, 45, and Wassim I. Mazloum, 27, of conspiring to commit terrorist acts against Americans overseas, including U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and other terrorism-related violations.

Today’s verdicts were announced by Patrick Rowan, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security; William J. Edwards, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio; and C. Frank Figliuzzi, Special Agent in Charge, Cleveland Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

In February 2007, Amawi, El-Hindi, and Mazloum were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiring to kill or maim persons outside the United States, including U.S. military personnel serving in Iraq, and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Amawi and El-Hindi were also charged individually with distributing information regarding the manufacture or use of explosives, including suicide bomb vests and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Three additional counts in the superseding indictment were severed before trial and were not considered by this jury.

Today, the jury convicted the defendants on all counts. Amawi, a citizen of Jordan and the United States, and El Hindi, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Jordan, were each convicted of one count of conspiring to kill or maim persons outside the United States, one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, and two counts of distributing information on explosives. Mazloum, a U.S. legal permanent resident from Lebanon, was convicted of one count of conspiring to kill or maim persons outside the United States and one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

At trial, the government proved that all three defendants engaged in a conspiracy, beginning sometime prior to June 2004, to kill or maim persons outside the United States, including U.S. armed forces personnel in Iraq. As part of the conspiracy, the defendants conducted firearms training and accessed and copied instructions in the construction and use of explosives – including IEDs and suicide bomb vests. In addition, the defendants conspired to recruit others to participate in jihad training; researched and solicited funding sources for such training; and proposed sites for training in firearms, explosives and hand-to-hand combat to prospective recruits.

The government also proved that all defendants conspired to provide material support and resources, including personnel, money, explosives and laptop computers, to terrorists, including a co-conspirator in the Middle East, who had requested such materials for use against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. For example, among other activities, Amawi communicated with a contact in the Middle East on chemical explosives and traveled to Jordan in August 2005 with laptop computers intended for delivery for mujahideen “brothers” whom he learned were preparing to cross into Iraq.

The government also proved that Amawi knowingly distributed to others a guide describing the step-by-step process for manufacturing chemical explosive compounds, as well as a video entitled, “Martyrdom Operation Vest Preparation,” which described the step-by-step construction and use of a suicide bomb vest. Amawi distributed these materials with the intent that they be used for training others to commit a crime of violence, including the killing of U.S. nationals overseas.

The government further proved that El-Hindi knowingly distributed a slide show demonstrating the preparation and use of IEDs against apparent U.S. military vehicles and personnel, as well as the video entitled “Martyrdom Operation Vest Preparation.” El-Hindi distributed these materials with the intent that they be used for training others to commit a crime of violence, including the killing of U.S. nationals overseas.

“Today’s verdicts should send a strong message to individuals who would use this country as a platform to plot attacks against U.S. military personnel in Iraq and elsewhere,” said Patrick Rowan, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “This case also underscores the need for continued vigilance in identifying and dismantling extremist plots that develop in America’s heartland.”

Acting United States Attorney William J. Edwards said: “These verdicts are testament to the hard work and dedication of all the federal, state and local law enforcement officers who have spent years investigating this case and to the tireless efforts and perseverance of an extremely talented team of federal prosecutors who, with their law enforcement partners, keep this country safe from terrorists.”

“This case demonstrates the stark reality of home grown terrorism. If a plot like this can be developed in Toledo, OH, it can happen anywhere. With radical extremists in our midst, the FBI works day and night with our law enforcement and intelligence partners to pursue suspected terrorists and their supporters,” said C. Frank Figliuzzi, Special Agent in Charge, Cleveland Division, FBI.

The maximum statutory penalties for the offenses on which the defendants were convicted include: life imprisonment for conspiracy to kill or maim persons outside the United States; 20 years imprisonment for distributing information regarding explosives (each count); and 15 years imprisonment for conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Each defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any; the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentences will not exceed the statutory maximum, and in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Toledo, Ohio, with the assistance of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division; the U.S. Secret Service; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Ohio Highway Patrol; the Toledo Police Department; and the Lucas and Wood County Sheriff’s Departments.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas E. Getz and Justin E. Herdman of the National Security Unit of the U.S Attorney’s Office in Cleveland, as well Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg N. Sofer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Austin, Texas, (formerly of the Justice Department’s Counterterrorism Section) and Trial Attorneys Jerome J. Teresinski and David I. Miller of the Justice Department’s Counterterrorism Section. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Detroit also provided assistance in this case.

Did some look-ups queing in the names of the three defendants and this is what I found:

Mohammed Zaki Amawi:

Suspected terrorists arrested in Ohio

Mohammad Zaki Amawi is also accused of twice threatening to kill or injure President Bush.

Homegrown terrorist database

Citizenship: Born U.S.A. Place of Residence at Time of Arrest: Jordan

Marwan Othman El-Hindi:

Three Ohio men indicted on terrorism activity

El-Hindi is a naturalized American citizen who was born in Jordan.

Detainee served as imam at prison

A year before he is accused of plotting to attack American soldiers in Iraq, Marwan Othman El-Hindi offered spiritual nourishment to Muslim prisoners at the Toledo Correctional Institution as an "imam," or religious leader.

Wassim I. Mazloum:

Was a terrorist among us?

Through the window of Wassim Mazloum's former business, City Auto Sales Inc., an open can of soda is left abandoned on an office desk. A cat peers through various windows; a few used cars remain on the lot.

Yet what appears seemingly harmless has been alleged to be a front to travel to and from Iraq for the UT student, one of many points in a detailed indictment of charges of terrorist plotting brought against Mazloum by the U.S. government.

3 charged in terror plot

Mr. Mazloum is from Lebanon but a legal resident of the United States.

Thanks to piasa for this additional information — ADDING to post no. 506:

QUOTE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2030774/posts?page=13#13

To: Dawnsblood; Cindy

The men — Mohammad Amawi, 28, Marwan El-Hindi, 45, and Wassim Mazloum, 27 — face a maximum sentence of life in prison. Prosecutors said the men were learning to shoot guns and make explosives while raising money to fund their plans to wage a holy war against U.S. troops.
The FBI initially heard about El-Hindi in 00 , while investigating a group of men suspected of promoting fundamentalist Islam in Iraq. The FBI videotaped a meeting in Washington, D.C. in 2002 attended by Rafil Dhafir, a doctor from New York, and two others in which Dhafir mentioned El-Hindi as “one of the brothers from Toledo” who was adept at coming up with money-making schemes. 6 El-Hindi was involved in numerous business endeavors supported by Dhafir over the years. Dhafir was arrested in 00 and charged with funneling proceeds from an Islamic charity, called Help the Needy, to Iraq in violation of U.S. sanctions. He received a 22-year sentence. It remains unclear how Dhafir and El-Hindi originally met. -————Preventing Jihad in Toledo June 22, 2006 http://www.preventivestrategies.net/public/library_file_proxy.cfm?lid=37.

13 posted on June 13, 2008 8:58:32 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: Cindy
MORE RELATED STUFF:

* Dr. Rafil Dhafir : (Iraqi-born USA citizen) 55, a founder of Help the Needy, was a respected Iraqi-born oncologist practicing in upstate Rome [NY] and has been a member of the medical staff at Rome Memorial Hospital since 1982. The four (Dhafir, al Wahaidy, Jarwan & Zagha) were accused of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against Iraq by transferring cash to unidentified people in Baghdad without a license. Dhafir and Zagha also were charged with 13 counts of money laundering, as were Help the Needy and a related charity, Help the Needy Endowment. Dhafir, Al Wahaidy and Jarwan pleaded innocent. ...
Dhafir, Al Wahaidy and Jarwan pleaded innocent. ...”Is this guilt by association? Far too many people from the Mideast have been placed under suspicion,” said Edward Menkin, lawyer for Dhafir. A tentative April 27 trial date was set.- “Upstate charity tied to illegal Iraqi cash: Feds say N.Y. group laundered millions,” by DOUGLAS FEIDEN, New York Daily News, April 6, 2003

* Bassem Khafagi : Also, [Bassem] Khafagi was co-owner of a Sir Speedy printing franchise until 1998 with Rafil Dhafir, who was a former vice president of IANA and a Syracuse-area oncologist convicted in February 2005 of illegally sending money to Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime as well as defrauding donors by using contributions to his “Help the Needy” charitable fund to avoid taxes and to purchase personal assets for himself. Dhafir was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison.[40] -———— “CAIR: Islamists Fooling the Establishment ,” by Daniel Pipes and Sharon Chadha, MEF News, SPRING 2006

14 posted on June 13, 2008 9:03:58 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: Cindy; Dog
AND MORE RELATED STUFF:

JUNE 2002 : (UK : LONDON : DR RAFIL DHAFIR IS INTRODUCED — SEE IRAQ) One of the men charged in New York, oncologist Rafil Dhafir, 55, was identified last year as vice president and a board member for IANA. At a London conference last June, Dhafir also was introduced as founder and president of Help the Needy and a graduate of the University of Baghdad School of Medicine. -———— “Suspects linked to bin Laden, Iraq: Arrests of Arabs in Idaho, New York target terror financing ,” By Art Moore, WorldNetDaily.com, Friday, February 28, 2003

JANUARY 2003 : (KENNEDY AIRPORT IN NYC, NY : DR RAFIL DHAFIR’S OVERNIGHT ENVELOPE TO ZAGHA TRADING EST. IN JORDAN IS INTERCEPTED——— See HELP THE NEEDY) In January 2003, investigators intercepted an overnight envelope at Kennedy International Airport in New York City that Dr. Dhafir addressed to Zagha Trading Establishment in Amman, Jordan. The packet was forwarded to postal inspectors in Syracuse for inspection. Pursuant to a search warrant, agents found a sealed business envelope containing a $200,000 Oneida Savings Bank cashier’s check payable to “M. Zagha Trading Est.”. Officials suspect $2.73 million in bank checks bought with Help the Needy money reached Zagha this way. Maher Zagha, 34, went to college in Central New York and was living in Amman, Jordan.————— “Iraqi “Help The Needy” Dr. Seeks Bail for Fourth Time,” Posted by Ross on Tuesday January 27, 2004 at 9:11 am MST via PHXNews.com, http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=8947 Link to story: http://www.anthraxandalqaeda.com

15 posted on June 13, 2008 9:06:17 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: Cindy; Dog; ZacandPook
Both Dr. Rafil Dhafir [associate of Toledo’s el Hindy] and another IANA official, an Iraqi-American by the name of Ali Al-Timimi [of PAINTBALL JIHAD FAME & well known on our anthrax threads] have visited China at least once. They arrived in late August of 1995 for a UN conference on women’s health issues... but the conference wasn’t until September 5 - 15.

16 posted on June 13, 2008 9:17:30 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)