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July 13, 2006

US: Albany Mosque "Sting" Case - Bail Denied

We reported on September 29 that two individuals from the Masjid as-Salam in Albany, New York, were given two more indictments, concerning their alleged conspiracy to support terrorists. 36-year old Yassin Aref (pictured) was the leader of the mosque, and was indicted on two counts of lying to the FBI, additional to the charges already against him. Aref, together with the mosque's founder, 50-year old Mohammed Hossain, had been free on $250,000 bail bonds since August 2004, shortly after they had been arrested. For a year, the pair's activities had been investigated with the help of an undercover FBI informant, a local Pakistani businessman.

They had initially faced 19 indictments. They had been caught by a "sting" whereby the undercover FBI informant had posed as an arms dealer. The informant suggested to Hossain that he should hold money from the sale of a shoulder-held missile launcher which would be used to kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York City. Aref witnessed the financial deals and wrote receipts, but has denied knowledge of any missile weapon, despite being pictured in an FBI photo, holding it. In the same photo, Hossain is looking on.

The indictments about lying to the FBI concerned questions Aref had been asked about being a member of the Islamic Movement in Kurdistana group connected to Ansar al-Islam. Aref is an Iraqi of Kurdish origin. Both Aref and Hossain were also charged with being members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terror group.

Ansar al-Islam is connected to Al-Qaeda. It has burned down beauty parlors and a girls' school, and has murdered women in Kurdish Iraq for not wearing burkas. It has also been involved with suicide bombings, including attacks against US interests.

Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), founded in 2000, aims to cause Indian Kashmir (Jammu & Kashmir State) to secede from India and unite with Pakistan. JeM, along with Lashkar e-Taiba, was held responsible for the December 13, 2001, attack on the Indian Parliament that killed nine and injured 18, and also for killings of Christians in Pakistan in 2002.

On October 1 we stated that the pair had run up a total of 30 charges in all.

Evidence from Aref's diary connected him with Mullah Krekar, founder of Ansar al-Islam fi Kurdistan. Assistant US Attorney William Pericak has stated that one of these diary entries stated that is was time "to take the war to America and Israel." Another of Aref's writings listed by the prosecutors was a poem from Dec 1999 that included the lines: "Raise the Jihad sword ... Raise the Koran with blood ... So we can bring back the freedom for ourselves and the entire people of this Earth." Although Hossain was allowed to stay free on bail, Aref's bail was revoked by US Magistrate Judge David Homer, and he was returned to custody.

If convicted of all charges laid against him, Aref could face a total of 470 years in prison and $7.25 million in fines, while Hossain could face 450 years in prison and $6.75 million in fines.

Aref had migrated to the US with his family in 1999 as a refugee. Hossain came originally from Bangladesh, and is a naturalised US citizen.

HomelandSecurityUS reported that on January 9 this year, U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy refused to dismiss the charges against Aref and Hossain, stating that despite defense submissions that they had been "entrapped". there was sufficient evidence to proceed to trial. He further refused to grant separate trials for the two men. Both have pleaded not guilty.

News today from Associated Press via SiLive states that Yassin Aref had applied for bail. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Homer dismissed the request. Submissions had been made, in which it was stated that entries from Aref's diary had been mistranslated, and these had been employed by prosecutors to make him appear dangerous. The judge wrote: "The alleged mistranslations are immaterial."

The defense had argued that the writings from Aref's diary, which were made in 1999, would have shown, if taken in context, that he had supported the US plan to remove Saddam Hussein from power. It was further argued that the diary entries would show that Aref disagreed with the philosophy of terrorism.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Pericek had compared translations made for the defense and prosecution of eight journal entries, which showed there were only superficial aspects which differentiated them. He wrote: "The utterly false allegations of prosecutorial misconduct contained in Aref's filing thinly disguise its lack of merit,"

Aref's trial is due to start on September 6. It would have commenced last month, but for defense requests for a later date.

Terence Kindlon for the defense had requested bail so that Aref could spend time with his wife and four children in Albany, NY.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 13, 2006 7:52 PM

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