Prosecutors say Web sites maintained by Sami Omar Al-Hussayen were conduits to radical jihad sites
BOISE -- One of the so-called Portland Seven will join members of two other U.S.-based jihad cells to testify against a Saudi graduate student accused of setting up a Web-based network to recruit terrorists and jihad fighters.
Ahmed Bilal is scheduled to testify with others that they were inspired by jihad videos they watched on Web sites run by University of Idaho student Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, according to federal prosecutors. Members of jihad cells in New York and Virginia also are expected to testify during the eight-week trial that opened Wednesday.
But Al-Hussayen's attorney told jurors that just because Al-Hussayen supports Muslim battles in the Middle East and Chechnya, that doesn't make him a terrorist.
"He is not an angry Islamic fundamentalist," said defense attorney David Nevin. "He doesn't hate the United States. He doesn't hate Western values."
Al-Hussayen, 34, is charged with three counts of terrorism and 11 counts of immigration fraud.
Prosecutors contend that Al-Hussayen lied to get into the United States 10 years ago and since then has lived dual lives to hide his support of terrorism. They portrayed him as a key figure in an international network that involved two Islamic charities as well as two controversial Saudi clerics linked to Osama bin Laden.
Prosecutors said that Web sites operated by Al-Hussayen were designed to raise money for terrorism and recruit people to jihad, or a holy war. Prosecutors said that religious edicts calling for a holy war and jihad videos posted on the Web sites were successful in recruiting jihadists.
To prove that point, prosecutors intend to call Bilal, 26, who was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for participating in a Portland group that tried to reach Afghanistan to fight U.S. forces in late 2001.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Lindquist, lead federal prosecutor, showed jurors a chart linking 18 Web sites and two e-mail group sites that he said Al-Hussayen helped create to advance terrorism. He said the chart displayed the network that is at the core of the government's case.
He said the Web sites often portrayed legitimate purposes, but that was "part of the front, the facade, that was this network." He said the sites often linked to other sites with more inflammatory material.
Nevin acknowledged that Al-Hussayen was heavily involved with one charity investigators suspect of supporting terrorism -- the Islamic Assembly of North America, based in Michigan. He said Al-Hussayen also had a relationship with the Saudi clerics.
Supported oppressed
Al-Hussayen was promoting Islam and rallying support for Muslims facing oppression in the occupied territories and Chechnya, Nevin said.
"Sami is not guilty of these charges. He's not guilty of anything," Nevin said.
Prosecutors said that bank records show Al-Hussayen passed on more than $324,000 to the Islamic Assembly of North America from 1997 to 2002.
Nevin challenged that, saying Al-Hussayen gave no more than $165,000 and that he did so by check and wire transfer.
"He didn't make any effort to hide what he was doing," Nevin said.
Al-Hussayen supported the Islamic Assembly's unsuccessful effort to launch Muslim radio stations in Chicago and Detroit, Nevin said. Al-Hussayen got $135,000 from his uncle in Saudi Arabia and added $25,000 of his own, Nevin said. He noted Al-Hussayen comes from a prominent, wealthy Saudi family.
"He is not a financier of terrorists," Nevin said.
He said the Islamic Assembly is a "Muslim outreach organization" that has not been designated a terrorist group by the U.S. government. "IANA is still operating today," Nevin said.
Nevin acknowledged Al-Hussayen participated in an e-mail chat group that carried postings that were "ugly and reprehensible," including a message last year urging Muslims in the U.S. Armed Services to provide information. He said Al-Hussayen didn't support such postings and hadn't posted any messages to the group in three years.
He said the e-mail group focused on events in Chechnya, where Muslim rebels have been battling Russian forces.
"Not a pacifist"
"Sami cares deeply about what's going on in Chechnya and Palestine," Nevin said. He said Al-Hussayen is "not a pacifist" and believes Muslims in those regions should "continue to fight." He doesn't advocate terrorism to do that, Nevin said.
Nevin said Al-Hussayen did know Saudi clerics Safar Al-Hawali and Salman Al-Oudah, and that both "are harshly critical of the United States." He said the clerics have urged non-violent means to change the Saudi government, and that one has been vilified by Islamic extremists in Saudi Arabia for taking a more moderate stance about change.
Nevin also said there was no evidence from 10,000 intercepted phone calls and 20,000 e-mails that Al-Hussayen was involved in terrorism.
"Sami is not in the e-mails and in these telephone conversations espousing a desire for people to blow themselves up," Nevin said.
Les Zaitz: 503-221-8181; leszaitz@news.oregonian.com
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