Posted on 08/07/2003 4:25:34 PM PDT by bicycle thug
ORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 6 — A software engineer pleaded guilty today to a federal charge of aiding the Taliban and agreed to testify against others in exchange for the dropping of other charges.
The engineer, Maher Hawash, will serve at least seven years in prison under the deal, which was approved by Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Mr. 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. He was part of a group that traveled to China in an effort to enter Afghanistan and fight American troops there, prosecutors said.
"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?" Judge Robert E. Jones of Federal District Court asked Mr. Hawash.
"Yes, your honor," Mr. Hawash replied.
Mr. Hawash's lawyer, Steven Houze, said his client had decided to cooperate with the government, but declined to comment on details of the negotiations. Mr. Houze said Mr. Hawash had faced more than 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
In March, federal agents seized Mr. Hawash, 38, and searched his home. He was held as a material witness until charges were filed five weeks later. In what supporters called an abuse of civil rights, officials did not publicly confirm that he was being held in those five weeks.
A federal affidavit accused Mr. Hawash, a naturalized United States citizen of Palestinian descent, of growing angry with the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks, then conspiring to fight in Afghanistan.
Mr. Hawash accompanied the group as it tried and failed to enter Afghanistan from western China in the late fall of 2001, court documents said. The Taliban was the militant Muslim group that controlled most of Afghanistan until the American invasion after the terrorist attacks.
Five of the other six defendants in the case — Jeffrey Battle; Mr. Battle's ex-wife, October Lewis; Patrice Lumumba Ford; and two brothers, Ahmed and Muhammad Bilal — have pleaded not guilty. The sixth, Habis al Saoub, remains at large. They face charges of conspiracy, firearms and money laundering.
This case is noteworthy for two reasons. First, Hawash had a lot of advocates who loudly declared his innocence. The Free Mike Hawash! Web site is still up, though it hasn't been updated with news of his guilty plea (indeed, the latest news on it is from May 6).
Second, Hawash and his alleged co-conspirators are from Portland--a city whose police department notoriously announced in November 2001 that it would refuse to cooperate with federal terrorism investigations. Let's hope there's some rethinking going on in the Beaver State.
Taranto's column has a link to the "Free Hawash" website, for the curious out there.
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