[Gucho]

IRAN: AYATOLLAHS INVITE CUBAN LEADER TO BECOME A MUSLIM

Tehran, 22 Nov. (AKI) - Iran's religious authorities in the holy Shiite city of Qom have officially invited Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, to convert to Islam, according to Hojatolislam Mohammad Reza Hakimi, quoted by Iran's Farda news agency. "I met Castro together with the Iranian foreign minister, Saiid Salili, and gave him some sacred Islamic texts translated into Spanish," said Hakimi, who recently returned from a government visit to Cuba.

"We spoke with Castro for several hours, and I think I almost managed to convince him to become a Muslim," Hakimi added. "Castro certain that Cuba is suffering from a lack of spirituality, and seems very interested in Islam, above all in the writing of Iran's revolutionary leader, Ayatallah Khomeini," Hakimi continued.

Khomeini in 1989 invited Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, to renounce Communism and to convert to Islam. Gorbachev's political and economic reforms in the mid-1980s triggered the non-violent transition from authoritarian to democratic forms of government in Eastern Europe, and from state-controlled to more free-market economies.

[Gucho]

Suspect in Assassination Plot Convicted


Tue Nov 22, 7:20 PM ET - File photo shows friends and relatives of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali outside the Federal Courthouse in Washington February 24, 2005. Abu Ali was found guilty on Tuesday of conspiring with al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush. (Jason Reed/Reuters)

Nov 22, 2005 - 3:07 PM US/Eastern

By MATTHEW BARAKAT - Associated Press Writer

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- An Arab-American college student was convicted Tuesday of joining al- Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush.

The federal jury rejected Ahmed Omar Abu Ali's claim that Saudi authorities whipped and tortured him to extract a false confession.

Abu Ali, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen born to a Jordanian father and raised in Falls Church, Va., could get life in prison on charges that include conspiracy to assassinate the president and providing support to al-Qaida.

Abu Ali told authorities shortly after his arrest at a Medina, Saudi Arabia, university in June 2003 that he joined al-Qaida and discussed various terrorist plots, including a plan to personally assassinate Bush and to establish himself as a leader of an al-Qaida cell in the United States.

But the defense countered that he was tortured by the Saudi security force known as the Mubahith.

The jury deliberated for 2 1/2 days. Abu Ali swallowed hard before the verdict was read but otherwise showed little emotion.