- This time is different for Yemini Sheik Mohammed Ali
Hassan Al- Moayad and his assistant Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed. On October
2, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously reversed their unjustifiable
convictions. More on that below.
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- On March 10, 2005, both men were convicted on multiple
charges of conspiring to and providing "material support" for
Al Queda and Hamas and became victims of the Bush administration's "war
on terrorism" and Jihad against Islam. On August 2 and September
1, they received 75 and 45 year sentences respectively.
-
- The charges were outrageous on their face and followed
similar type persecutions of other Muslim figures like Sami Al-Arian,
Rafil Dhafir, Yassin Aref, Seyed Mousavi, and many more. Innocent men
unjustly convicted in kangaroo court proceedings. Often because of their
prominence, leadership positions, and affiliations with Islamic organizations.
Charity initiatives to others less fortunate. Efforts to promote unity
among all faiths. Teach others about Islam, and work for social progress,
peace and against war. As a result, be charged with "terrorism,"
tried, and become victims of police state justice in a climate of fear.
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- Both Yemeni clerics were targeted for their faith, ethnicity,
activism, prominence and notable charitable efforts. Germany unjustifiably
extradited them to the US to be prosecuted for their entirely legal activities.
With testimony from a notoriously unreliable informant. Paid $100,000
by the FBI for his services. Then pressuring the agency for more.
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- At trial, the prosecution repeatedly attempted to prejudice
the jury. Scare them with allegations about a Koranic verse being a "terrorist"
one. A Palestinian-born attorney posing an "increased risk"
because her "foreign born" status. Using this accusation to
keep her off the case at first. Doing everything possible to convict two
innocent men and claim a victory in "the war on terrorism."
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- Arrest and Charges
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- On January 10, 2003, both clerics were arrested In Germany
with the help of FBI informant Mohamed Al- Anssi. A man with a dubious
history of theft, burglary and defrauding Islamic organizations and charities.
Stealing their property. Running up phone bills. Using public, private
individual, and mosque services for his own benefit. Then in November
2004, pressuring the FBI for more money by setting himself ablaze in front
of the White House.
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- Al-Anssi was an out-of-status immigrant fearing deportation.
To avoid it, he contacted an FBI Terrorism Task Force agent. One eager
to produce results by reeling in suspects. Islamic ones in a climate
of fear. That juries would convict. Al-Anssi offered to help. With no
substantiating evidence, he claimed that Sheik Al- Moayad supported Al
Queda, mujahideen Islamic fighters, and even North Korea.
-
- A month later, the FBI sent him to Yemen to target Al-Moayad
even though his own government knew and approved of his activities. Their
legitimacy having nothing to do with "terrorism." Over the next
year, Al-Anssi and Yemeni-based FBI agents produced scant "evidence,"
none of which was incriminating:
-
- -- three Palestinian charity donation receipts; ones
not to designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs); and
-
- -- a 30-minute video of a five-day Yemeni group wedding
at which a Hamas representative to Yemen spoke.
-
- Based on this alone, Al-Moayad and Zayad were to be charged
with conspiring to and providing material support for Al Queda and Hamas.
An entrapment scheme then followed in Germany. An Agent "Sharif"
became involved, posing as a former Black Panther supportive of "Jihadist
causes." The "civil rights movement" among them, according
to an FBI agent BM.
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- A sting was arranged as follows. Agent "Sharif"
instructed Al-Anssi to tell Al-Moayad and Zayad that he wished to donate
$2 million for their work, and conversations were secretly videotaped.
When the clerics learned it was for another purpose, they disapproved.
"Sharif" then said: "I know what you're here for and I
will give you what you want if you give me what I want." Both clerics
still objected and wished only for funding help to build their charitable
center. "Sharif" claimed conversations with him were about
funneling it to Hamas. Based only on his word. Masked officers
- arrested both clerics three days after they arrived in
Germany.
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- They were held for six months. Indicted on March 4, 2003.
Extradited to the US in November. At a Senate hearing, Attorney General
John Ashcroft called them "big fish." Claimed that they funneled
millions of dollars to Al Queda and Hamas, and that Al- Moayad boasted
of personally delivering $29 million to bin Laden.
-
- The charges were concocted and false. Evidence showed
both clerics supported Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Others
in refugee camps in other Arab countries. Also that they knew Hamas members
throughout the Arab world, in Africa, and in some European states. Entirely
legitimate activities in Yemen and Germany unrelated to "terrorism."
Not according to the FBI and John Ashcroft even though both men never
raised funds in America or broke US laws.
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- Sheikh al-Moayad's Background
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- Early in life, he came to love the oppressed and indigent.
He was born in May 1948 to a peasant family in Safya. A Sanaa, Yemen
suburb. His father was a village teacher who earned only what local parents
paid him in food and personal effects. He developed a desire to do community
service like his father, and in the 1970s built a dam in Sanaa to distribute
water more effectively.
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- In the early 1980s, he moved to Asbahi, Yemen. A town
with no mosque, so he opened his home for worship. He convinced the government
to provide land for a mosque and built one. Then expanded it to include
religious services for women and a small basement elementary school.
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- By the early 1990s, Al-Moayad was well-respected for
his honesty, charity and grassroots activism. His Al Ihsan Charitable
Organization provided aid and got government support. He opened a bakery
that fed hundreds of families daily. A market that charged wholesale prices
and had fresh water for those without it.
-
- He expanded his school to accommodate students from kindergarten
through high school. One for girls as well and personally encouraged
reluctant families to enroll their daughters. More efforts to teach trade
skills.
-
- In all, a near-endless number of charitable initiatives
addressing all aspects of daily life for around 9000 needy families.
Individual, communal and religious. An orphan fund project, blanket distribution,
and full meal provisions during Ramadan. Group wedding coordination for
poor groomsmen. Holistic healing. Computer training and a free medical
clinic.
-
- Al-Moayad is also a father of seven. However, he became
known as the "Father of Orphans" throughout Sanaa and was appointed
honorary supervisor of the Al Aqsa Foundation.
-
- All along, he supported the Palestinian struggle for
liberation. Their right of return, justice, and self-determination. He
raised money and other essentials for Palestinians in refugee camps.
Others in greatest need in Occupied Palestine. Efforts that Washington
calls supporting "terrorism."
-
- Al-Moayad is so well respected that Yemenis were outraged.
Especially in Sanaa. Thousands protested publicly for over two years
demanding his release. His assistant, Mohamad Zayad as well. Yemeni president,
Ali Abdallah Saleh, said neither man had links to Al Queda, and they have
every right to support Hamas and the Palestinian people. In vain, he urged
Washington to release them.
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- The Indictment - United States of America v. Mohammed
Ali Hassan Al- Moayad and Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed
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- Count One: defendants "knowingly and intentionally
conspired to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist
organization, to wit, al Qaeda."
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- Count Two: defendant Al-Moayad "knowingly and intentionally
provided material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization,
to wit, al Qaeda."
-
- Count Three: defendants conspired to provide material
support to Hamas.
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- Count Four: defendant Al-Moayad provided material support
to Hamas.
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- Trial and Convictions
-
- For five weeks in early 2005, the proceedings took place
in a Brooklyn courtroom. Unfairly described by New York Times writer
William Glaberson (on February 6 in his opening paragraph) as the same
one where "thousands of past cases (of) mobsters, drug dealers and
con artists" were tried. Now the "sheik, in his silk hat and
flowing robes....heard in hours of secretly recorded videotapes talking
in a convoluted style....his meanings elusive....his style indirect. (Recounting)
tales from the Koran or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad....In a conversation
about a man who seemed to be offering a big donation to Muslim causes,
the sheik started a discourse on a battle from the time of the prophet."
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- Both men "remain enigmas....mysterious figures,
charged with funneling money to Al Queda and Hamas. Much of it raised
in Brooklyn." In fact, none of it was or was it used for "terrorism."
Nor did Al-Moayad issue a "public call for revenge against Americans
for his arrest" as Glaberson wrote earlier (again in his opening
paragraph) on September 22, 2004.
-
- The trial was a travesty of justice in which Al-Anssi's
unsubstantiated testimony, written notes and videotapes were the key
"evidence". Plus US Attorney Mauskopf demonizing Palestinian
resistance and saying that supporting their right of return is "extremism."
Terrorism.
-
- Unrelated testimony from a Scottish law student, Gideon
Black, was also introduced. About a Tel Aviv suicide bombing that killed
his cousin. Over defense objections, the judge allowed it and biased
the jury. A bin Laden "terror camp" video as well. DOJ's customary
strategy to portray Muslims as terrorists to instill enough fear to convict.
Give jurors no other choice.
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- In the end, Al-Moayad and Zayad were acquitted of supporting
Al Queda. Al-Moayad was convicted of conspiring to and providing support
for Palestinian resistance fighters, Hamas, and bin Laden. Zayed was
convicted of the Hamas conspiracy and support charges as well as conspiring
to support Al Queda. Some of the many "material support" charges
that DOJ cites in its worldwide war on Islam. Portraying Muslims as dangerous.
Terrorists. Others who supports Arab rights. Palestinian self-determination.
Equal justice the way US and international laws demand. What targeted
Muslims almost never get in US courtrooms.
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- Nor did they on March 10, 2005 when both men were convicted.
Or again on August 2 when Al-Moayad was sentenced to the maximum 75 years
and fined $1.2 million. A beloved Yemeni cleric US Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf
called a "master terrorist financier." On September 1, Zayad
received a 45 year sentence and was fined $750,000. Both men were sent
to the US federal Florence, Colorado Supermax prison.
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- Conditions In and Effects of Supermax Confinement
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- These prisons are intended for "the worst of the
worst." Society's most dangerous, violent and incorrigible on the
notion that behavior modification will result from solitary confinement,
sensory deprivation and punitive treatment.
-
- These facilities are known for their harshness. They
crush the human spirit, mind and body through isolation and cruelty. Physical
abuse is common and inflicted as punishment. Deprivation extreme. Inmates
have little contact with staff. None with other inmates. They're confined
alone in small windowless cells for 23 hours a day. Have no work, social
contact, education, recreation, rehabilitation or personal privacy. Nearly
everything is delivered there - food, medical supplies, other materials.
Outside their cells, they're escorted everywhere by 4-man teams, painfully
handcuffed and shackled. Over time, the effects are devastating:
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- -- severe anxiety;
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- -- panic attacks;
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- -- lethargy;
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- -- insomnia;
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- -- nightmares;
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- -- dizziness;
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- -- irrational anger; at times uncontrollable;
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- -- confusion;
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- -- social withdrawal;
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- -- loss of memory;
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- -- loss of appetite;
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- -- delusions and hallucinations;
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- -- self-mutilations;
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- -- profound despair and hopelessness;
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- -- suicidal thoughts;
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- -- paranoia; and
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- -- for many a totally dysfunctional state and inability
ever to live normally outside of confinement.
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- Prisoner anecdotes describe the experience:
-
- -- "People come in here with a few problems and
will leave sociopaths."
-
- -- You're like a "caged animal. I've seen people
just crack and either scream for hours on end or cry."
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- -- Isolation "creates monsters (who) want revenge
on society."
-
- -- We "have a sense of hopelessless. Plus my anger
(is) a silent rage....I am beginning to really hate people."
-
- -- "They....try to break a person down mentally
(and) mental abuse leaves no evidence behind (like) physical abuse."
-
- -- others describe isolation as like being buried alive;
living in a tomb; and in a March 2006 US Gulag Prison System article this
writer tried to give readers a sense of what it's like by saying: "Try
locking yourself in your bathroom with a little food and water for 24
hours and see how you (react). Then (do it for) 20....years" or the
rest of your life.
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- Overall for many, prolonged isolation results in irreversible
psychological trauma and harm. A condition no society should inflict
on any human being. Nor should any law allow it.
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- Justice for Both Clerics
-
- On November 26, 2007, attorneys for both men appealed
their convictions. On October 2, AP reported that the 2nd US Circuit
Court of Appeals "overturned the convictions of a Yemeni cleric and
his deputy, finding they were prejudiced by inflammatory testimony about
unrelated terrorism links." The decision means both men can have
new trials under a new judge if DOJ orders them.
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- In its 68-page opinion, the three-judge panel was unanimous
and referred to an FBI "sting operation." Video tapes of "FBI-
orchestrated meetings between the defendants and government informants."
The FBI paying Al-Anssi $100,000 for his role. Over defense's objections,
allowing unrelated testimony to be introduced that was "enormously
prejudicial (and) is a central issue in this appeal."
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- Noting that Al-Anssi's "evidence" can't be
substantiated. That he couldn't "specify when Al-Moayad allegedly
provided money to either Al-Queda or Hamas." Nor did Al-Moayad ever
say he sent any. That "any support Al-Moayad may have provided to
Al-Queda lasted only through the Afghan conflict in the 1980s" when
the Reagan administration called the Mujahideen "freedom fighters"
and provided billions in aid against the Soviet occupation.
-
- The Appeals Court mentioned other reasons for their reversal
as well. Relating to a second FBI informant named Saeed. When he "asked
what he could do for Al-Moayad, Al Moayad described five goals: (1) teaching
people their religion; (2) uniting Muslims; (3) raising young men in a
manner of which God approves; (4) helping young people in need; and (5)
doing everything for God's sake. Al- Moayad also discussed more specific
projects, including the charitable bakery, educating Muslim women, and
aiding the families of people who have been jailed or martyred."
-
- Saeed expressed willingness to support these efforts,
"but that he primarily wanted to fund mujahidin. Al-Moayad replied,
'(l)et me tell you that I want to be honest with you....We can't say yes,
yes to what you're asking then lie to you...." Discussions about
money involved using it for charitable efforts. "Al-Moayad also
explained....that although he had delivered money to Bin Laden during
the (1980s) 'Afghani Jihad,' he distanced himself from al- Queda once that
conflict was over."
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- The justices agreed that district court errors "when
considered collectively denied (the defendants) due process of law and
fundamental fairness." Enough "to warrant reversal of (their)
convictions" and for the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals to "VACATE
the judgments of conviction and REMAND to the district court for further
proceedings consistent with this opinion before a different district court
judge." A harsh and rare rebuke of trial judge Sterling Johnson Jr.
showing no confidence in him, according to legal ethics professor Stephen
Gillers.
-
- Al-Moayad's lawyer, Robert Boyle, said he was "extremely
gratified" by the decision, "particularly its emphasis on the
cumulative effect of the trial errors. I hope this means that Sheik Moayad,
who's elderly and not in good health, will be able to go back to his
country in the very near future." Zayed's attorney, Steven Feldman,
said "Even in the war on terror, justice knows no country. Justice
was served." Robert Nardoza, the US Attorney's spokesperson, said
"We are reviewing the decision and will consider the options available
to the government before deciding our next course of action."
-
- This decision is extremely important and follows US District
Court Judge Brinkema's granting Sami Al-Arian bail on July 10. Then his
release on September 2. After five and a half years of unjustifiable
and extremely harsh confinement. Both cases offer hope, if just a glimmer.
For these men. All Muslim defendants. Those imprisoned on false charges
and unfair convictions, and others yet to be targeted. In a climate of
fear and the wrong time to be Muslim in America.
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- Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre
for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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