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"Tony McDonald, a member of the University of Texas Young Conservatives, sets up a protest anti- American Civil Liberties Union nativity scene, dubbed a 'solstice barn,' on the university's campus in Austin December 4, 2006. The display features a 'Nancy Pelosi' angel, a 'suicide bomber' shepherd, and Marx, Lenin and Stalin as the Three Wise Men." "Josh Perry, a member of the University of Texas Young Conservatives, spreads hay as he sets up a protest anti-American Civil Liberties Union nativity scene, dubbed a 'solstice barn,' on the university's campus in Austin, Texas December 4, 2006. The display features a...

A terrorism case that went awry By Maureen O'HaganSeattle Times staff reporter, Monday, November 22, 2004 Sami al-Hussayen, a Saudi Arabian, faced terrorism charges in Idaho. John Ashcroft called Sami al-Hussayen part of "a terrorist threat to Americans that is fanatical, and it is fierce." Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said al-Hussayen is proof that terrorists are hiding in the heartland. Yet al-Hussayen, a 34-year-old doctoral candidate at the University of Idaho, didn't exactly fit the profile when he was arrested in February 2003 and likened in court documents to Osama bin Laden. Instead, al-Hussayen's alleged crimes occurred at his...

GENEVA (AP) - Switzerland approved on Friday the handover of bank documents to the United States on the source of a donation to a U.S.-based Islamic charity suspected of money laundering and recruiting terrorists over the Internet. The supreme court's decision allows Swiss authorities to override banking secrecy and provide documents, including those for a $300,000 transfer made May 14, 1998, from a Geneva bank to the Michigan-based Islamic Assembly of North America. The decision was in response to a February 2003 U.S. government request for judicial assistance in its investigation of the assembly and its Idaho-based Saudi computer expert...

On Friday, in the state of Idaho, a jury came to the conclusion that the First Amendment protects terrorist incitement, propaganda, and recruitment and that these actions do not constitute material support for terrorism. Al-Hussayan had been charged with providing expert advice and assistance to terrorists through operation of Web sites of the Islamic Assembly of North America. Prosecutors said the sites were aimed at recruiting and funding militants and contended they fostered terrorism. … We talked about that we weren't going to step on anybody's rights to hold the opinion they had," said juror John Steger in interviews by...

Here in Boise, Idaho, in the terror trail of foreign student AL Hussayen, the jury has returned a verdict of NOT GUILTY in all of the pertinent terror related charges. Al Hussayen came to this country with hundreds of thousands of dollars from his Saudi Uncle, which money he invested in Islamic "charities" who were later shown to be tied to terror groups. We were supposed to believe that he was unaware of this...even as he became the web master for several of those sites, and even though a captured terrorist testified against him indicating that hsi writings (AL Hussayen)...

Judge indicates he will limit government evidence against Al-Hussayen By BOB FICK , Associated Press, 04/22/2004 ______ A federal judge told prosecutors Thursday he would likely limit the e-mail evidence they can introduce against the University of Idaho graduate student they have accused of using his computer skills to foster terrorism. U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge withheld ruling on any specific e-mails sent to Sami Omar Al-Hussayen by others in the e-mail group devoted to Chechen Muslims until an attempt is actually made to offer them as evidence. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Deitch argued the e-mail's sent to Al-Hussayen...

BOISE - A jury of eight women and four men was seated this afternoon to hear the case against a University of Idaho student accused of using his computer skills to foster terrorism. The 12 jurors and two female alternates were picked from a pool of 40 people after U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge questioned all of them about their knowledge of Islam, religious conflicts in the Middle East and Chechnya, their computer abilities and their personal feelings on terrorism. He called those issues volatile and told the jury to keep an open mind during the six-week trial. Opening statements...

As the world reels from the bombings in Madrid, it is important to remember that the jihad continues in America as well.* The FBI and Coast Gaurd announced March 11 that nine members of the Merchant Marine may have links to terrorist groups. This is the fruit of Operation Drydock, an anti-terror investigation that has lasted more than a year. These efforts, while laudable, only underscore the fact that terrorists have already begun to try to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of U.S.seaports.* The same day, three members of the "Virginia jihad network" were found guilty of conspiracy. Masoud Khan,...

A graduate student from Saudi Arabia - already jailed on immigration charges - has been accused of helping to raise funds for the Hamas. Sami Omar al-Hussayen was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism after US federal prosecutors said he helped run websites that urge people to contribute money to Hamas. Al-Hussayen's attorney, a computer science student at the University of Idaho, said his client is innocent. Al-Hussayen, 34, has been in a jail near Boise since being arrested at his Moscow home in February 2003. He was charged then with student visa fraud and making false...

<p>BOISE, Idaho — A graduate student from Saudi Arabia — already jailed on immigration charges — has been accused of helping to raise funds for a militant Palestinian organization.</p> <p>Sami Omar Al-Hussayen (search) was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism after federal prosecutors said he helped run Web sites that urge people to contribute money to Hamas (search).</p>

February 6, 2004 - If you have seen signs for the Muslim Student Association on college campuses and wondered who they are, where they came from and whether they exist on student fees alone, you are not alone. Federal investigators are curious too. The Senate Finance Committee is investigating non-profit groups to determine whether those organizations might be a source of funding for terrorist activities. Among the groups that the Committee wants Internal Revenue Service records on: the Muslim Student Association (MSA), active on campuses throughout the United States. "Many of these groups not only enjoy tax-exempt status, but their...

U.S. authorities filed criminal charges yesterday against a Saudi student who ran a Montreal-based Internet site that was allegedly used to recruit and raise money for Islamic terrorists. Charges of providing material support to terrorism were filed in U.S. District Court in Boise against Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, 34, a computer student at the University of Idaho. The indictment alleges he ''knew and intended that his computer services and expertise would be used to recruit and to raise funds for violent holy war, or jihad, in Israel, Chechnya and elsewhere.'' Aside from soliciting money for Hamas, Mr. Al-Hussayen operated an e-mail...

BOISE, Idaho — The University of Idaho graduate student held for nearly a year on visa fraud charges pleaded innocent on Monday to the additional charge of supporting terrorism. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen appeared only briefly before U.S. Magistrate Mikel Williams. Williams postponed Al-Hussayen's trial date from Jan. 20 to Feb. 17 and said both sides could put motions before U.S. Judge Edward Lodge — who will preside over the trial — if they wanted the date postponed longer. Defense attorney David Nevin has accused federal prosecutors of trying to delay the trial by securing the federal indictment last Friday on...

GLOBAL JIHAD Saudi student indicted for terror From Idaho school set up website to recruit holy warriors Posted: January 10, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A Saudi graduate student in the U.S. believed to have ties to close associates of Osama bin Laden was indicted yesterday on charges he provided material support to terrorists. The University of Idaho student, Sami Omar al-Hussayen, 33, created websites to recruit members for terrorist groups and raise money for their activities, prosecutors charge. Al-Hussayen, who studied computer science, also is scheduled to go on trial in two weeks on visa fraud charges....

Saudi Grad Student at U. of Idaho Charged With Supplying Computer Expertise to Terrorist Groups The Associated Press BOISE, Idaho Jan. 9 — A Saudi graduate student at the University of Idaho was indicted Friday on charges he supplied his computer expertise to terrorist groups. Prosecutors said Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, 33, put together Web sites to recruit members and raise money for Muslim terrorist activities. He was charged with providing material support to terrorism. The indictment came less than two weeks before Al-Hussayen was set to go on trial on visa fraud charges brought against him last February. He has...

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- A University of Idaho graduate student who is under investigation for suspected terrorism ties obtained unauthorized access to a campus lab containing radioactive material, court documents allege. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Saudi national working on his computer science doctoral degree, quietly moved his student office from the Computer Science Department into the school's engineering isotope lab, apparently without his adviser's knowledge, according to the documents. "The investigation of Sami Al-Hussayen has, from its outset, been focused on suspected material support to terrorism, particularly to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network," FBI agent Michael Gnecknow said in the...

<p>Federal prosecutors say the lawyer for a University of Idaho student accused of having links to international terrorists might have a conflict of interest because he is being paid by the Saudi Arabian government. According to a motion filed Oct. 30 in federal court, prosecutors say attorney David Nevin could possibly discourage student Sami Al-Hussayen from taking actions contrary to a third party´s interest — in this case the government of Saudi Arabia.</p>

Hijackers in same hotel as Saudi minister By David Rennie in Washington (Filed: 03/10/2003) A senior Saudi Arabian official, now minister for the holy places, stayed at the same hotel as three September 11 hijackers the night before the suicide attacks. American investigators are trying to make sense of the disclosure that Saleh Ibn Abdul Rahman al-Hussayen, who returned to Saudi Arabia shortly after the attacks, stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in Herndon, Virginia. Three of the attackers stayed at the hotel that night and crashed a plane into the Pentagon the following day. His nephew's American lawyer, David...

September 10th, 2003 will forever be remembered as a grim day for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). On that day, the eve of the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, CAIR faced up to its own terrorist connections. It ran away from testifying before an influential Senate panel that heard a barrage of incriminating evidence about the group and its connections. It saw one of its former officials plead guilty to terrorist-related crimes in Federal Court. And, it was stood up by two Department of Justice officials at an immigration symposium in Florida. CAIR should find it hard...

Al-Hussayen may be deported 06/04/2003 Associated Press An immigration judge ruled that a University of Idaho graduate student suspected of terrorist links lied to gain entry to the United States and can be deported. But Sami Omar Al-Hussayen will remain in the Canyon County Jail as the eleven criminal counts against him move toward trial. Al-Hussayen is a Saudi Arabian national. He refused to answer questions about the matter, invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. The bearded Al-Hussayen appeared in an orange prison jumpsuit, handcuffs and shackles. He occasionally smiled at two friends in the audience...

<p>SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- A former University of Idaho football player has been arrested as a material witness in an investigation of Islamic charities with possible links to terrorism, FBI agents said Tuesday.</p> <p>Abdullah Al-Kidd, 30, was arrested Sunday at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., according to two FBI agents who separately spoke on condition of anonymity. He was carrying a one-way ticket to Saudi Arabia, court documents show.</p>

BELLEVUE -- A former University of Idaho football player said he is not tied to terrorists and is shocked at the way he's been treated by federal agents the past two weeks. Abdullah Al-Kidd was arrested as he prepared to board a jetliner at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. He is jailed in Boise, Idaho, as a material witness in an investigation of an alleged terrorist group with links to the university. "Basically, don't believe the hype," Al-Kidd told the King County Journal during a jailhouse interview on Sunday night. "I'm not a terrorist. I'm as American as apple...

Judge rules Saudi student could be deported 04/25/2003 Associated Press BOISE - An immigration judge in Boise decided today that University of Idaho graduate student Sami Omar Al-Hussayen could be deported. But the Saudi Arabian national allegedly linked to Islamic radicals will remain in the Canyon County Jail as his case moves along two legal tracks. Immigration Court Judge Anna Ho decided Al-Hussayen was "removable," meaning he could be deported for violating the terms of his student visa into the United States by being paid for creating Internet pages for groups including the Islamic Assembly of North America. But...

<p>In the days after Sept. 11, 2001, Sami Omar al-Hussayen led fellow Muslims as they joined an emotion-charged candlelight march remembering the dead. The Saudi graduate student in computer science at the University of Idaho helped organize a blood drive for victims. He issued a press release on behalf of the Muslim Students Association, stating that the small town of Moscow's Muslims "condemn in the strongest terms possible what are apparently vicious acts of terrorism against innocent citizens."</p>

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The leader of Portland's biggest mosque sits on the board of an Islamic charity that's being investigated for terrorist links, federal tax records show. The Oregonian reported Tuesday that Alaa M. Abunijem has served on a three-person board in charge of the Michigan-based Islamic Assembly of North America since at least 1999, according to federal documents reviewed by the Portland newspaper. An FBI agent testified in an Idaho federal court last week that the bureau's evidence "clearly points" to the Islamic Assembly's role in promoting terrorism. Abunijem and other directors of the Islamic Assembly have not...

A second man with ties to the University of Idaho has been arrested by federal agents in a widening investigation of a suspected terrorist-related web in the Moscow, Idaho-Pullman, Wash., area, an FBI source confirmed today. Former Idaho student Bassem K. Khafagi was arrested in January at the Marriott Hotel near New York City’s LaGuardia Airport and was returned to Michigan to face bank fraud charges, court documents show. A total of four men with ties to the Moscow-Pullman area and the Michigan-based Islamic Assembly of North America have been implicated in the investigation. They include current University of Idaho...

Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - MOSCOW, Idaho - This was supposed to be the safe place, the Idaho town that fought the state's stereotype as a haven for white- supremacist and anti-government groups. For sure, that's how Marwan Mossaad felt about Moscow, home to the University of Idaho, where the 25-year-old Egyptian national is majoring in economics and architecture. It's hard to imagine the disconnect between the chaotic streets of Cairo, a city of 16 million people, and Moscow, where the grain elevator at the south end of Main Street is the tallest building in town.Until now, said Mossaad, head...

The Saudi man arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force yesterday in Idaho has ties to close associates of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and to four Arab men charged at the same time with channeling funds to Iraq. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen – a University of Idaho doctoral candidate supported by the Saudi government – was a terrorist bagman, according to a federal criminal justice source quoted by a Seattle newspaper. Saudi student Sami Omar al-Hussayen "He's in touch with people who could pick up the phone, call [bin Laden], and he would take the call," the source told the...

The FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested a Saudi Arabian man studying computer security at the University of Idaho who is charged with channeling funds and helping set up a website for an Islamic group that urges violence against the United States. The Justice Department also announced that a U.S. charity in upstate New York and four people associated with it were charged with illegally sending millions of dollars to Iraq. Idaho graduate student Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, 34, was taken into custody at 4 a.m. at his apartment on the university's campus in Moscow, Idaho, according to a...

MOSCOW, Idaho -- Agents with a federal anti-terrorism task force yesterday arrested a University of Idaho student who they say provides a window on how al-Qaida, the group responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, raises money.Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a doctoral candidate studying computer security here, was a terrorist bagman, according to one federal criminal justice source. "He's in touch with people who could pick up the phone, call UBL (the law enforcement acronym for Osama bin Laden), and he would take the call."Few in this region's small Muslim community would talk about Al-Hussayen yesterday. Some praised him as a...

MOSCOW - Agents with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force have raided several locations in Moscow, Idaho. A University of Idaho student of Saudi Arabian descent has been arrested for investigation of visa fraud. Spokane TV reports identified the student as 35-year-old Semi Al-Huyassen and says he was arrested on seven counts of visa fraud and four counts of making false statements The man is linked to the Islamic Assembly of North America, according to Spokane TV station KHQ. Federal agents have scheduled news conferences today in Moscow and Boise to release details. Dozens of agents are serving search warrants...