a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR2009080703415.html"Washington Post:/abr /br /blockquotep A terrorism-financing case against a Yemeni cleric, which the U.S. government once claimed as a major victory against al-Qaeda, came to a murky end Friday as a federal judge ordered him to be released and deported, despite his 2005 sentence to 75 years in a maximum-security U.S. prison. /p pSheik Mohammed al-Moayad, 60, a high-ranking political leader in Yemen, had been convicted after a five-week federal trial in New York City of conspiracy, providing material support to Hamas and attempting to support al-Qaeda. /p pHis assistant and bodyguard, Mohamed Zayed, who is in his mid-30s, had been convicted of attempting to provide material support to Hamas. /p pIn October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit overturned the convictions, saying U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson Jr., improperly admitted evidence during the trial that prejudiced the jury. /p pIn new plea deals, both defendants pleaded guilty Friday only to conspiring to provide material support to Hamas. U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry sentenced them to the time they have served, most recently at the federal "supermax" prison in Florence, Colo. /p p Zayed, who was originally sentenced to 45 years, will also be released and deported to Yemen. /p pIn a letter filed Friday with the court, Benton J. Campbell, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York City, said the deal is justified because the appeals court ruling would have made a conviction more difficult. He also cited "broader national security implications," which the government did not specify, and the fact that Moayad is in failing health.br //pp.../ppThe pleas and deportations mark a sudden end to an investigation that then-U.S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft announced in 2003, saying Moayad had admitted giving Osama bin Laden $20 million before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But before the trial, the government's star informant set himself on fire outside the White House in what he said was an attempt to get the FBI to pay him more money, and the case began to unravel.br //pp.../ppMoayad's trial lawyer, William H. Goodman, said his client will return home a hero, known for his work with the poor. "The effort on the part of the U.S. government to entrap him in the current situation is both petty in terms of the international struggle against terrorism, and poorly targeted because it made far more enemies in the Middle East -- particularly in Yemen -- than friends," he said.br //pp...br //p/blockquoteHis admission should have been enough for a conviction in most cases. I get the feeling the admission must not have been admissible in court for some reason. If it was true we should find a way to keep this guy in a Supermax. The informants activities, while strange, should not have been a reason for dismissal if other evidence supported the conviction.br /br /The attorney's statement is as strange as the turn of events. Why should a guy who provided funding to bin Laden for his mass murder for Allah operations be seen as a hero? That surely says something about the lack of character of those who would perceive him as a hero. It also seems strange that a guy who admitted to providing that kind of money to a terrorist organization would have those activities described as petty. I know attorneys are supposed to put their clients actions in teh best light possible, but this is just strange.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5051247-488552979672963818?l=prairiepundit.blogspot.com'//div
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