The guys defense seems to be that he had a good reason to want to assassinate the President. That's not the way our legal system works.
Are his supporters laughing because they think he is being railroaded or because murder plots are inherently amusing to them?
Either that or we should let him go, assassination plot and all, just because he got caned at some point in Saudi
Oh : they're laughing with derision because they're so superior to the rest of us and hope to win, one way or another.
I agree with your question. Later in the story the family seems to indirectly admit that this guy was doing something wrong.
"His family contends that U.S. officials were behind his detention by Saudi authorities and wanted him held in that country so he could be tortured for information."
To me, the family is saying that the guy did, in fact, have crimes to confess (they aren't saying the Saudi's were trying to get a false confession, just using torture for accurate info).