The FBI the government's main informer, Mohamed Alanssi is the man who set himself on fire in front of the White House last year; and was set to testify in this trial that will start on January 10th.
As an aside, I believe that the Sept. 11th attacks happened at about the same time as the trial for one of the shieks who was involved in the initial WTC bombing in 1993. So the timing of some of the recent threats, the upcoming elections in Iraq...this just makes me somewhat uneasy.
Defense for Sheik and Aide Is Suspicious of Gaps in Tapes
By WILLIAM GLABERSON 
Sheikh Ali Hassan al-Moayad, shown in this file photo, was arrested last winter in Germany.
Published: January 5, 2005 By WILLIAM GLABERSON Lawyers for a Yemeni sheik and an aide who are charged with financing terrorism said yesterday that there were gaps in secretly recorded tapes that are at the heart of the prosecution's case, and suggested that they may have been doctored.
"There are many gaps we can't explain," Jonathan Marks, a defense lawyer, said in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. He added that one recording "may have been doctored in such a way" as to obscure a conversation that could help the defense.
A prosecutor, Kelly Moore, acknowledged that there were gaps on the tapes, which were recorded surreptitiously by law enforcement agents, but said they were only a few seconds in length....
William H. Goodman, another defense lawyer, said that on at least one of a series of recordings made by agents in a hotel in Frankfurt, there was one gap of nearly a minute. He said the gaps might have covered up statements made by the defendants "that may be extremely helpful to the defense."
The remarks did not prompt any ruling from the judge, Sterling Johnson Jr. They were made at a routine hearing before the trial of the two defendants, Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad and his aide, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed.
Jury selection is to begin Monday. The charges, which claim that the men raised millions of dollars at mosques in Brooklyn and elsewhere, drew international attention when they were announced in 2003 by Attorney General John Ashcroft. The men are charged with providing money to Al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
The case made news again in November when the government's main informer, Mohamed Alanssi, a Yemeni with a troubled past that included bad debts and criminal charges , set himself on fire outside the White House, partly because of a dispute with the F.B.I. over his treatment.
Prosecutors have since suggested that they may not call him as a witness.
The recordings at issue yesterday were made by law enforcement agents who secretly monitored meetings among Mr. Alanssi, a second informer, the sheik and Mr. Zayed. The second informer was posing as a former Black Panther eager to contribute to terrorist causes....
Court Records Tell of Sheik's Promise to Spread Around Financing for Terrorists
The filing included previously undisclosed excerpts from sealed transcripts of conversations during a sting operation in Germany last year. In secretly recorded meetings in a Frankfurt hotel, the sheik, Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, met with an American agent playing the part of a former Black Panther who was eager to contribute $2.5 million to terrorist causes.......
The sheik said he would pass on money raised in America to 'everybody that we learn is fighting jihad to raise God's word,' according to the prosecutors. 'The way we see it is to support all organizations,' including 'Hamas, Al Qaeda, prisoners, mujahedeen and such,' the prosecutors quoted the sheik as saying.
The comments were among the most damaging attributed to Sheik Moayad by the federal prosecutors in Brooklyn in a case that they have said may be the largest terrorism-financing case in the country.
The filing portrayed the sheik, who is now in jail in Brooklyn awaiting trial, as applauding and laughing about deaths caused by a suicide attack in Israel. It also quoted him vowing revenge after his arrest in 2003 by German authorities who were working with American law enforcement officials.
'Allah will bring storms to Germany and America,' the prosecutors quoted the sheik as saying.
Link to Search of Shiek Mohammed & more Articles
Agent Fuller continues to work in counterterrorism. He will probably testify in January at the trial of the Yemeni sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, who is accused of providing money, weapons, equipment and recruits to Al Qaeda and Hamas. The case will apparently go on despite the fact that the chief confidential informant involved, a Yemeni immigrant, set himself on fire in front of the White House to protest his treatment by F.B.I. agents. In the F.B.I. sting operation, Mr. al-Moayad was taped in Europe telling the confidential informant (who was posing as an Al Qaeda sympathizer) and another intelligence agent that he'd funneled millions of dollars to Mr. bin Laden and was his spiritual advisor.