Portland Man (Intel engineer Hawash ) Strikes Plea Deal on Terror Charges

Fox News/AP ^ | 8/62003

[ArcLight]

PORTLAND, Ore. — A software engineer pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of aiding the Taliban (search), agreeing to testify against other suspects in exchange for the dropping of other terrorism charges.

Maher "Mike" Hawash (search), one of the so-called "Portland Seven," will serve at least seven years in federal prison under the deal, which was approved by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft (search).

Hawash pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide services to the Taliban. Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of conspiring to levy war against the United States and conspiring to provide material support for terrorism.

"You and the others in the group were prepared to take up arms, and die as martyrs if necessary, to defend the Taliban. Is this true?" U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones asked Hawash during the hearing.

"Yes, your honor," Hawash replied.

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A lot of people in the tech community rallied to Hawash's defense, saying he couldn't possibly be a terrorist. You can't blame folks for rallying around a friend, God bless 'em, but they must be feeling pretty awful right about now.

[dixiechick2000]

Bump and ping!

More information here...

[dmeara]

Thanks for the ping.

"Five of the other six suspects in the case -- Jeffrey Battle; Battle's ex-wife, October Lewis; Patrice Lumumba Ford; and brothers Ahmed and Muhammad Bilal -- all have pleaded innocent. The sixth, Habis al Saoub, remains at large. They face various conspiracy, firearms and money laundering charges.""

Something tells me they won't be attending prayers with Mr. Hawash.

More on the story here http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=59693
For some reason they were not able to get into Afghanistan.

Also, check the Free Mike Hawash web site before they take it down. http://www.freemikehawash.org/

I wonder if they will reimburse all the money they collected for his defense fund. It would be interesting to find out how much they collected and who donated.

Looks like he will walk in seven to ten years. This is too lenient for a capital offense.

[csvset]

Huh. They caught this guy in China trying to sneak into Afghanistan. Seven years sounds like a sweetheart deal to me.