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October 11, 2006
US: Albany Mosque "Sting" - Pair Are Convicted
We wrote on October 4 that the jury in the trial of two New York-based Muslims had gone away to deliberate upon their verdicts.
The two individuals were Yassin Aref (pictured) and Mohammed Hossain, leaders of a mosque in Albany, New York. They had been arrested in 2004, following a sting operation, which involved an undercover FBI agent, a Muslim businessman known as Malik. This FBI "plant", posing as an arms dealer, had suggested to Hossain that he should hold money ($50,000) 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.
51-year old Mohammed Hossain, a naturaliized US citizen, has been free on $250,000 bail bonds since August 2004, shortly after they had been arrested, whereas 36-year old Yassin Aref has been in custody, being denied a bail request on July 13 this year.
The two were leaders of the Masjid as-Salam mosque in Albany. Aref is a refugee of Kurdish Iraqi origin and was the imam at the small mosque. Hossain is a pizzeria owner, who originally comes from Pakistan. He is a severe diabetic.
Now, according to Associated Press via USA Today and ABC 25 as well as other syndicated sources, and from Jerusalem Post, the two men have been found guilty of federal conspiracy and money laundering, on multiple counts.
During their trial, it was claimed that the two men had believed that the money they were holding was to be used by the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed. Aref is already known to be an associate of the terrorist Mullah Krekar, who founded the group Ansar al-Islam fi Kurdistan.
Hossain was convicted of all of the 27 charges against him, and Aref has been convicted on ten of the 30 counts with which he was originally charged.
Both men will be sentenced on February 12th, 2007.
Hossain is likely to serve 20 years in jail, according to his lawyer, Kevin Luibrand, but he would not speculate on the possible sentence which lies ahead for Yassin Aref. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Pericak has said that Aref, who has a wife and four children living in Albany, will almost certainly be deported once his sentence is completed.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 11, 2006 3:51 AM
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