Fourth Suspect Pleads Guilty to Aiding a Terrorist Group

A jobs counselor who met privately with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan after attending an Al Qaeda training camp pleaded guilty Tuesday to providing support to a terrorist organization.

Sahim Alwan, 30, is the fourth of six American men of Yemeni descent to reach a deal with the government in exchange for a lesser sentence. Like the others, he agreed to cooperate in the government’s continuing terrorism investigation.

The government indicated it would seek a nine-year term when Alwan is sentenced in July. All of the defendants faced 15 years in prison.

The six, arrested last fall in the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna, were accused of supporting Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda by training at the military-style camp in the spring of 2001, months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In his plea agreement, the Buffalo-born Alwan, a married father of three, said he saw Bin Laden at a Kandahar guest house before attending the camp and was taken to meet with the terrorist leader again after he left the camp early. Alwan’s attorney, James Harrington, said his client left before completing training because the “crazy rhetoric” he was hearing frightened him.

At the second meeting, Alwan said Bin Laden asked “what Americans thought about martyrdom missions as well as how the brothers were doing at the Al Farooq camp.”

Alwan said he also heard Bin Laden speak during his 10-day stay at the camp. He said, “There were people willing to bare their soul in their hands for jihad.”

Alwan’s plea agreement also said that a second group of Buffalo-area men had considered going to the Afghanistan camp, and that several unidentified individuals recruited the Lackawanna group to the camp, traveled with them and helped pay Alwan’s way.

Neither prosecutors nor Harrington would elaborate on the second group’s alleged travel plans.

“We learn more about this as we go on,” said U.S. Atty. Michael Battle, who said the investigation was continuing.

Unlike the co-defendants who pleaded guilty before him, Alwan did not say he knew the trip was illegal. He said he believed he was attending training in jihad, described as a struggle against those not of Islamic faith.

Last month, Yahya Goba and Shafal Mosed each pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors said they would seek an eight-year sentence for Mosed and a 10-year prison term for Goba.

Faysal Galab pleaded guilty in January to supporting Al Qaeda. He is expected to receive a seven-year sentence.

The two other defendants, Mukhtar al-Bakri and Yasein Taher, remain in plea negotiations, attorneys said.

Defense attorneys have said their clients had no advance word of the Sept. 11 attacks.