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October 4, 2006

US: Jury Deciding In Albany Mosque "Sting" Trial

We reported on the Albany Mosque "sting case" in September last year, when ten new indictments were laid against Yassin Aref (pictured) and Mohammed Hossain, leaders of a mosque in Albany, New York. These were arrested in August 2004, following a year-long "sting" operation involving an FBI undercover agent, a local Pakistani businessman.

Aref and Hossain were accused of attempting to provide support to Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistani extremist group, which is listed on the State Department's notice of foreign terrorist organisations.

Initially they were indicted with 19 charges, including working with the FBI agent who posed as an arms dealer, and 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.

Days later, new details of the 30 indictments emerged. Diary evidence from Yassin Aref linked him to Mullah Krekar, the founder of terrorist group Ansar al-Islam, which has ties with al Qaeda. 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."

If convicted of all charges, Aref faces 470 years in prison and $7.25 million in fines, while Hossain faces 450 years in prison and $6.75 million in fines.

On July 13 this year, we wrote that 36-year old Yassin Aref had been denied bail. Amongst his other indictments, Aref is accused of lying to the FBI.

Aref is an Iraqi of Kurdish origin. His co-accused, 51-year old Mohammed Hossain has been free on bail bonds of $250,000 since 2004, when they were arrested. Aref had run the small Masjid as-Salam mosque in Albany, and Hossain was a pizzeria owner and mosque member.

Their trial has now been completed, save for the jury deliberations. The news of the trial's completion is carried by the Albany Times Union, Reuters via the Scotsman, the New York Law Journal, All Headline News, Associated Press via the International Herald Tribune and W Ten News.

During his closing statements at the trial, Terence Kindlon, lawyer for Yassin Aref, said yesterday: "This country made some mistakes in the aftermath of 9-11, and this case is one of them."

The lawyer for Mohammed Hossain, Kevin Luibrand, said that neither his client nor Aref had criminal records, and said Hossain had been entrapped. He said: "If Malik (the undercover agent) had not come into his life Mr. Hossain would be making pizzas, tending to his family and practicing his religion."

The pair, via the entrapment, were said to have plotted to kill a Pakistani diplomat, the Pakistani ambassador to the United Nations. They allegedly laundered $50,000 provided by Malik, who said he had gained the money from the sale of the soulder-fired missile with which they were earlier photographed.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Pericak said during closing arguments that Hossain "was not only ready and willing, he was able and anxious. His motive was money and Aref was driven by ideology."

It has been argued in the trial that the diary evidence produced before the court was based on poor translations, but various translators were brought to provide their own versions of what was written in Aref's diary.

Similarly, it was also argued by the defense that Malik spoke in such a cryptic manner that it could not be proved that his two "dupes" had actually agreed to commit a crime.

Terrence Kindlon told jurors: "The government wants you to think that Yassin Aref is a terrorist. He's the exact opposite, ladies and gentlemen.... What happened was 9/11.... and the world really changed for people from the Middle East, and Yassin was one of them."

Kindlon claimed that because Aref could not speak English well, he had become vulnerable to the actions and suggestions of the FBI informant. He said: "Yassin doesn't get money laundering, he doesn't get it. He's got the financial sophistication of a 7-year-old.....There was a failure to communicate."

More than 50 hours of tape had been recorded during the "sting" operation. William Pericak replayed several segments from these recordings, which appeared to show that Hossain was aware that he was laundering money, and Aref was aware of this, and was sympathetic to the causes of terrorists.

Pericak said: "You can turn a light on and it is not a crime. But if you know that if you turn on the light something will blow up, it is a crime. It comes down to belief and intent."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 4, 2006 3:43 PM

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