Posted on 03/05/2003 7:31:59 AM PST by Indy Pendance
The US authorities have charged two Yemeni nationals with conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda and Hamas - both on Washington's list of terror groups.
The men - Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad and Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed - were arrested in Germany on 10 January and the US has requested their immediate extradition.
They are accused of supplying "money, recruits, weapons and communication equipment to al-Qaeda and Hamas," a press release by the US Justice Department said.
Mr al-Moayad is alleged to have given Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network $20 million before the 11 September attacks, US Attorney General John Ashcroft said.
The move comes just days after the capture of top al-Qaeda suspect Sheikh Mohammed, which US President George W Bush has hailed as a "serious blow" to the terror network.
'Winning war on terrorism'
The unsealing of the charges was first announced by Mr Ashcroft on Tuesday during his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on progress in the war on terrorism.
Mr Ashcroft said the charges against the two men were largely based on the reports of two informants from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
He said the indictment was the result of undercover operations in Yemen and Germany in which the two FBI informants posed as people wanting to give money to Islamic militants.
"The United States of America is winning the war on terrorism with unrelenting focus and unprecedented co-operation," Mr Ashcroft told the hearing.
"These arrests could not have taken place without the substantial assistance of our friends in German law enforcement," he said.
The two suspects were arrested in a hotel at Frankfurt.
Mr al-Moayad - a leading member of Yemen's Reform Party and an imam at a mosque in the Yemeni capital Sanaa - is suspected of being a leading fundraiser for al-Qaeda.
Mr Zayed was identified as his secretary.
If convicted, Mr al-Moayad faces up to 60 years in jail, while Mr Zayed could be imprisoned for up to 30 years, US officials said.
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