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NEW YORK (AP) -- A judge earlier this week refused to let federal prosecutors present some of the most potentially damaging evidence against a Yemeni sheik charged with funneling millions of dollars to terrorists. Prosecutors will not be able to present documents allegedly linking Sheik Mohammed Ali Hasan al-Moayad to suspected al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan and Croatia, Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. ruled. Opening arguments are due to begin this week in the case of Al-Moayad and his Yemeni assistant Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, who are charged in federal court in Brooklyn with supporting al Qaeda and the Palestinian extremist...

NEW YORK (AP) - Federal prosecutors are challenging efforts by the Yemeni government to intervene in the courtroom defense of an outspoken sheik accused of funneling millions of dollars to al-Qaida. Sheik Ali Hassan al-Moayad has been jailed in Brooklyn since last year over the objections of Yemen, where he was a leading member of an Islamic-oriented political party. With a trial nearing, officials in Yemen recently hired a prominent Yemeni lawyer and sent him to New York to monitor the case. The lawyer, Khaled al-Ansi, was cleared to enter the United States. But when he showed up in court...

<p>November 17, 2003 -- A Yemeni cleric who allegedly boasted of giving Osama bin Laden millions of dollars collected at a Brooklyn mosque could be hauled into federal court as soon as today, after more than 10 months spent fighting extradition from Germany, a law enforcement source said. Sheik Mohammed Al Hasan Al-Moayad and his alleged assistant, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, are expected to be arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court immediately upon their arrival in the U.S. on charges they gave material support to al Qaeda and Hamas.</p>

Mar. 5, 2003 Yemeni cleric charged with raising funds for Al Qaida and Hamas By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK A Yemeni cleric detained in Germany bragged to an FBI informant that he supplied $20 million, recruits and weapons to Osama bin Laden in the years leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks, US officials said Tuesday. Much of the money came from contributors in the United States, including worshippers at the Al Farouq mosque in New York, Attorney General John Ashcroft said in announcing charges against Sheik Mohammed Al Hasan Al-Moayad. Amid an undercover operation, Al-Moayad "boasted that jihad...

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court said Monday it had approved the extradition to the United States of two Yemeni citizens suspected of links to the al Qaeda network who were arrested in Frankfurt in January on a U.S. request. The men are Yemeni Muslim cleric Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Mouyad and his assistant, Mohammed Moshen Yahya Zayed. U.S. authorities accuse the two of being al Qaeda supporters, but have not linked them directly with the September 11, 2001 hijacked airliner attacks on the United States. U.S. officials accuse Sheikh Mohammed, a preacher at Al Ihsan Mosque, one of the...