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Federal prosecutors announced Thursday they have indicted Pete Seda, the head of the Ashland branch of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, on fraud and tax charges. Seda, also known as Pirouz Sedaghaty and Abu Yunus, and another officer of the foundation, Soliman Hamd Al-Buthe, are part of a three-count indictment for illegally transporting $150,000 to Saudi Arabia. The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, charges them with conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing a false IRS return for a tax-exempt corporation and failure to file a report of international transportation of currency. Known locally as a peace activist,...

BOISE, Idaho – A federal appeals court delivered a stinging rebuke Friday to the Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 detention policies, ruling that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held liable for people who were wrongfully detained as material witnesses after 9/11. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the government's improper use of material witnesses after Sept. 11 was "repugnant to the Constitution and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history." The court found that a man who was detained as a witness in a federal terrorism...

"Tony McDonald, a member of the University of Texas Young Conservatives, sets up a protest anti- American Civil Liberties Union nativity scene, dubbed a 'solstice barn,' on the university's campus in Austin December 4, 2006. The display features a 'Nancy Pelosi' angel, a 'suicide bomber' shepherd, and Marx, Lenin and Stalin as the Three Wise Men." "Josh Perry, a member of the University of Texas Young Conservatives, spreads hay as he sets up a protest anti-American Civil Liberties Union nativity scene, dubbed a 'solstice barn,' on the university's campus in Austin, Texas December 4, 2006. The display features a...

A terrorism case that went awry By Maureen O'HaganSeattle Times staff reporter, Monday, November 22, 2004 Sami al-Hussayen, a Saudi Arabian, faced terrorism charges in Idaho. John Ashcroft called Sami al-Hussayen part of "a terrorist threat to Americans that is fanatical, and it is fierce." Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said al-Hussayen is proof that terrorists are hiding in the heartland. Yet al-Hussayen, a 34-year-old doctoral candidate at the University of Idaho, didn't exactly fit the profile when he was arrested in February 2003 and likened in court documents to Osama bin Laden. Instead, al-Hussayen's alleged crimes occurred at his...

GENEVA (AP) - Switzerland approved on Friday the handover of bank documents to the United States on the source of a donation to a U.S.-based Islamic charity suspected of money laundering and recruiting terrorists over the Internet. The supreme court's decision allows Swiss authorities to override banking secrecy and provide documents, including those for a $300,000 transfer made May 14, 1998, from a Geneva bank to the Michigan-based Islamic Assembly of North America. The decision was in response to a February 2003 U.S. government request for judicial assistance in its investigation of the assembly and its Idaho-based Saudi computer expert...

On Friday, in the state of Idaho, a jury came to the conclusion that the First Amendment protects terrorist incitement, propaganda, and recruitment and that these actions do not constitute material support for terrorism. Al-Hussayan had been charged with providing expert advice and assistance to terrorists through operation of Web sites of the Islamic Assembly of North America. Prosecutors said the sites were aimed at recruiting and funding militants and contended they fostered terrorism. … We talked about that we weren't going to step on anybody's rights to hold the opinion they had," said juror John Steger in interviews by...

Here in Boise, Idaho, in the terror trail of foreign student AL Hussayen, the jury has returned a verdict of NOT GUILTY in all of the pertinent terror related charges. Al Hussayen came to this country with hundreds of thousands of dollars from his Saudi Uncle, which money he invested in Islamic "charities" who were later shown to be tied to terror groups. We were supposed to believe that he was unaware of this...even as he became the web master for several of those sites, and even though a captured terrorist testified against him indicating that hsi writings (AL Hussayen)...

Judge indicates he will limit government evidence against Al-Hussayen By BOB FICK , Associated Press, 04/22/2004 ______ A federal judge told prosecutors Thursday he would likely limit the e-mail evidence they can introduce against the University of Idaho graduate student they have accused of using his computer skills to foster terrorism. U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge withheld ruling on any specific e-mails sent to Sami Omar Al-Hussayen by others in the e-mail group devoted to Chechen Muslims until an attempt is actually made to offer them as evidence. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Deitch argued the e-mail's sent to Al-Hussayen...

BOISE - A jury of eight women and four men was seated this afternoon to hear the case against a University of Idaho student accused of using his computer skills to foster terrorism. The 12 jurors and two female alternates were picked from a pool of 40 people after U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge questioned all of them about their knowledge of Islam, religious conflicts in the Middle East and Chechnya, their computer abilities and their personal feelings on terrorism. He called those issues volatile and told the jury to keep an open mind during the six-week trial. Opening statements...

As the world reels from the bombings in Madrid, it is important to remember that the jihad continues in America as well.* The FBI and Coast Gaurd announced March 11 that nine members of the Merchant Marine may have links to terrorist groups. This is the fruit of Operation Drydock, an anti-terror investigation that has lasted more than a year. These efforts, while laudable, only underscore the fact that terrorists have already begun to try to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of U.S.seaports.* The same day, three members of the "Virginia jihad network" were found guilty of conspiracy. Masoud Khan,...

A graduate student from Saudi Arabia - already jailed on immigration charges - has been accused of helping to raise funds for the Hamas. Sami Omar al-Hussayen was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism after US federal prosecutors said he helped run websites that urge people to contribute money to Hamas. Al-Hussayen's attorney, a computer science student at the University of Idaho, said his client is innocent. Al-Hussayen, 34, has been in a jail near Boise since being arrested at his Moscow home in February 2003. He was charged then with student visa fraud and making false...

<p>BOISE, Idaho — A graduate student from Saudi Arabia — already jailed on immigration charges — has been accused of helping to raise funds for a militant Palestinian organization.</p> <p>Sami Omar Al-Hussayen (search) was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism after federal prosecutors said he helped run Web sites that urge people to contribute money to Hamas (search).</p>

February 6, 2004 - If you have seen signs for the Muslim Student Association on college campuses and wondered who they are, where they came from and whether they exist on student fees alone, you are not alone. Federal investigators are curious too. The Senate Finance Committee is investigating non-profit groups to determine whether those organizations might be a source of funding for terrorist activities. Among the groups that the Committee wants Internal Revenue Service records on: the Muslim Student Association (MSA), active on campuses throughout the United States. "Many of these groups not only enjoy tax-exempt status, but their...

U.S. authorities filed criminal charges yesterday against a Saudi student who ran a Montreal-based Internet site that was allegedly used to recruit and raise money for Islamic terrorists. Charges of providing material support to terrorism were filed in U.S. District Court in Boise against Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, 34, a computer student at the University of Idaho. The indictment alleges he ''knew and intended that his computer services and expertise would be used to recruit and to raise funds for violent holy war, or jihad, in Israel, Chechnya and elsewhere.'' Aside from soliciting money for Hamas, Mr. Al-Hussayen operated an e-mail...

BOISE, Idaho — The University of Idaho graduate student held for nearly a year on visa fraud charges pleaded innocent on Monday to the additional charge of supporting terrorism. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen appeared only briefly before U.S. Magistrate Mikel Williams. Williams postponed Al-Hussayen's trial date from Jan. 20 to Feb. 17 and said both sides could put motions before U.S. Judge Edward Lodge — who will preside over the trial — if they wanted the date postponed longer. Defense attorney David Nevin has accused federal prosecutors of trying to delay the trial by securing the federal indictment last Friday on...

GLOBAL JIHAD Saudi student indicted for terror From Idaho school set up website to recruit holy warriors Posted: January 10, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A Saudi graduate student in the U.S. believed to have ties to close associates of Osama bin Laden was indicted yesterday on charges he provided material support to terrorists. The University of Idaho student, Sami Omar al-Hussayen, 33, created websites to recruit members for terrorist groups and raise money for their activities, prosecutors charge. Al-Hussayen, who studied computer science, also is scheduled to go on trial in two weeks on visa fraud charges....

Saudi Grad Student at U. of Idaho Charged With Supplying Computer Expertise to Terrorist Groups The Associated Press BOISE, Idaho Jan. 9 — A Saudi graduate student at the University of Idaho was indicted Friday on charges he supplied his computer expertise to terrorist groups. Prosecutors said Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, 33, put together Web sites to recruit members and raise money for Muslim terrorist activities. He was charged with providing material support to terrorism. The indictment came less than two weeks before Al-Hussayen was set to go on trial on visa fraud charges brought against him last February. He has...

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- A University of Idaho graduate student who is under investigation for suspected terrorism ties obtained unauthorized access to a campus lab containing radioactive material, court documents allege. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Saudi national working on his computer science doctoral degree, quietly moved his student office from the Computer Science Department into the school's engineering isotope lab, apparently without his adviser's knowledge, according to the documents. "The investigation of Sami Al-Hussayen has, from its outset, been focused on suspected material support to terrorism, particularly to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network," FBI agent Michael Gnecknow said in the...

<p>Federal prosecutors say the lawyer for a University of Idaho student accused of having links to international terrorists might have a conflict of interest because he is being paid by the Saudi Arabian government. According to a motion filed Oct. 30 in federal court, prosecutors say attorney David Nevin could possibly discourage student Sami Al-Hussayen from taking actions contrary to a third party´s interest — in this case the government of Saudi Arabia.</p>

Hijackers in same hotel as Saudi minister By David Rennie in Washington (Filed: 03/10/2003) A senior Saudi Arabian official, now minister for the holy places, stayed at the same hotel as three September 11 hijackers the night before the suicide attacks. American investigators are trying to make sense of the disclosure that Saleh Ibn Abdul Rahman al-Hussayen, who returned to Saudi Arabia shortly after the attacks, stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in Herndon, Virginia. Three of the attackers stayed at the hotel that night and crashed a plane into the Pentagon the following day. His nephew's American lawyer, David...