Former Student Pleads Not Guilty to Terrorism Charges
A former student at the University of Idaho jailed for more than a year on visa fraud charges pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges accusing him of aiding terrorism.
Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Saudi national, was indicted for allegedly conspiring to provide material support to the militant Palestinian organization Hamas by operating websites designed to solicit money and promote violence.
Al-Hussayen has been jailed since February 2003. He was initially charged with student visa fraud and making false statements to obtain the visa. A grand jury in January added an indictment accusing him of providing material support for terrorism. The second terrorism indictment came Thursday.
His lawyer, David Nevin, has criticized the government’s approach as piecemeal and said the latest indictment was another attempt to find guilt where there was none.
U.S. Atty. Tom Moss defended the staggered indictments: “This is an ongoing investigation and it involves a lot of information.”
Prosecutors claim that Al-Hussayen, a computer science graduate student, designed websites for two charities the government believes are linked to terrorist groups. He also designed sites intended to raise money and recruit people for a violent jihad, and oversaw an online magazine that published edicts from Muslim clerics encouraging suicide bombings, according to the indictment.
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