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Hamas financier sentenced in U.S.
Federal court sends Yemeni cleric to prison for 75 years for conspiring to support and fund al Qaeda, Hamas
By Reuters
A Yemeni cleric arrested after an FBI sting operation in Germany in 2003 was sentenced to 75 years in prison Thursday for conspiring to support and fund al Qaeda and Hamas.
Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al Moayad, 56, was sentenced to 75 years and fined USD 1.25 million in federal court in Brooklyn.
Prosecutor Kelly Moore said during the trial that al Moayad had ties to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and had bragged about having "taught him about Islamic law."
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He was later extradited to the United States.
On March 10, after a five-week trial, a federal jury found al Moayad and his aide, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, guilty of conspiring to provide material, support and resources to al Qaeda between October 1999 and January 2003, and to Hamas between October 1997 and January 2003.
Al Moayad was acquitted on a separate count of actually providing such support to al Qaeda, but was found guilty of providing material support and resources to Hamas.
"I have not done anything against the American people and I have no intention of doing anything against the American people," al Moayad said during sentencing.
"The American people are the flag of freedom," he said. "God, my witness, I did not support Hamas."
'Chilling' evidence
However, Judge Sterling Johnson said videotaped evidence used to convict him was "chilling," after it proved al Moayad provided material, support, money, weapons and recruits to Hamas and al Qaeda.
Sentencing of Zayed was delayed until September.
Four days of videotaped meetings between the defendants and FBI undercover agents in a Frankfurt hotel in January 2003 formed the crux of the government's case.
In one meeting they were recorded promising more than USD 2 million to Hamas.
But al Moayad's lawyer, William Goodman, argued that in Yemen it was not illegal to support Hamas.
"It's excessive, the arrests, the prosecution, the trial and the sentence all are replete with injustice," he said after the sentencing, comparing the operation to a bad television show.
Goodman said his client only listened to the pitches from the undercover officers, who promised money for the sheikh's legitimate charities and for medical treatment for his severe diabetes, if he supported Hamas and al Qaeda.
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