Free Republic

Terror case dealt blow when key witness sets himself afire By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN Associated Press Writer November 16, 2004, 5:30 PM EST NEW YORK -- The prosecution of a sheik accused of funneling millions of dollars to al-Qaida was roiled Tuesday by news that a man who set himself on fire in front of the White House was a key witness in the case. Defense attorneys said Mohamed Alanssi is a confidential informant central to the prosecution of Sheik Ali Hassan al-Moayad, whom U.S. authorities consider their biggest catch to date in a campaign to cut off funding for terrorists....

NEW YORK (AP) — A Yemeni sheik accused of funneling millions of dollars to terrorist networks warned U.S. agents that "Allah will bring storms" to America because of his arrest, according to newly filed court papers. Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad made the remark last year after a German court ordered him extradited to the United States to face charges that he helped finance al Qaeda and Hamas, prosecutors said in the documents filed in U.S. District Court. The statement — spoken in English to agents bringing al-Moayad from Frankfurt, Germany, to New York on Nov. 16, 2003 — counter defense...

NEW YORK (AP) - Federal prosecutors are challenging efforts by the Yemeni government to intervene in the courtroom defense of an outspoken sheik accused of funneling millions of dollars to al-Qaida. Sheik Ali Hassan al-Moayad has been jailed in Brooklyn since last year over the objections of Yemen, where he was a leading member of an Islamic-oriented political party. With a trial nearing, officials in Yemen recently hired a prominent Yemeni lawyer and sent him to New York to monitor the case. The lawyer, Khaled al-Ansi, was cleared to enter the United States. But when he showed up in court...