Last modified: Sat Jun 19 09:35:47 EDT 2004
UPDATE: On June 11, 2004, Mr. Al-Hussayen was acquitted on all three terrorism counts against him, as well as one count of making a false statement and two counts of visa fraud. Jurors could not reach verdicts on three more false statement counts and five additional visa fraud counts, and a mistrial was declared on those charges.
The New York Times of April 27, 2004 contains this article on the case of Sami Omar al-Hussayen, a Muslim grad student at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. He was arrested in February of 2003 on charges that he provided "computer advice and assistance, communications facilities, and financial instruments and services that assisted in the creation and maintenance of Internet Web sites and other Internet medium intended to recruit and raise funds for violent jihad, particularly in Palestine and Chechnya." It appears that his real offense was to simply link to web sites that promote jihad against the United States.
For more information on this case, try the Sami Omar al-Hussayen defense web site.
Web sites connected with the case: