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A California teenager suspected of attending a terrorist training camp and his father are being denied re-entry to the United States after spending four years in Pakistan unless they submit to interviews and lie-detector tests, their attorney says.     Julia Mass says the rights of her clients, Muhammad Ismail, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, and his 18-year-old son, Jaber Ismail, to return to the United States are being violated because they are on the "no fly" list.     Miss Mass said an official at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad told Jaber Ismail that he and his father would be allowed...

(05-05) 11:35 PDT LODI - Federal prosecutors announced today that they will retry a Lodi man after a jury deadlocked on charges that he allegedly lied to the FBI about his son's training at a Pakistani terrorist camp. Umer Hayat, an ice cream driver, faces up to 16 years in prison if he is convicted on two charges of providing false statements to federal investigators. Hayat was released Monday on bail. After U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. reduced Hayat's bail from $1.2 million, the equity in Hayat's home -- $390,000 -- was put up as a guarantee that he...

SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- A California man convicted of attending an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison Monday for supporting terrorists, concluding a case that divided a Central Valley farming community. U.S. District Court Judge Garland Burrell Jr. imposed the sentence against Hamid Hayat on his 25th birthday, saying he had "attended a terrorist training camp, returned to the United States ready and willing to wage violent jihad when directed to do so." Hayat faced up to 39 years in prison after his April 2006 conviction on one count of providing material support to terrorists...

LODI, Calif. - Eighteen months after FBI agents swarmed Lodi's Muslim community and arrested a father and son on terrorism-related charges, investigators said they are still examining several individuals named by the pair. U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott and Drew Parenti, who heads the FBI's Sacramento office, met Friday with about 100 members of the Pakistani community at the Lodi Muslim Mosque. The site was part of a federal probe into what investigators initially said was a suspected terrorist cell in the agricultural community south of Sacramento. Hamid Hayat, 24, was convicted in April of one count of providing material support...

The federal government has barred two relatives of a Lodi man convicted of supporting terrorists from returning to the country after a lengthy stay in Pakistan, placing the U.S. citizens in an extraordinary legal limbo. Muhammad Ismail, a 45-year-old naturalized citizen born in Pakistan, and his 18-year-old son, Jaber Ismail, who was born in the United States, have not been charged with a crime. However, they are the uncle and cousin of Hamid Hayat, a 23-year-old Lodi cherry packer who was convicted in April of supporting terrorists by attending a Pakistani training camp. Federal authorities said Friday that the men,...

A federal judge on Monday rejected a request to dismiss some of the counts against a Lodi man convicted of supporting terrorists, leaving in place the possible maximum prison sentence of 39 years. Hamid Hayat, 23, was convicted in April of one count of providing material support to terrorists by attending an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan and three counts of lying about it to FBI agents. His attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi, argued that federal prosecutors were piling on potential prison time by charging three versions of the same lying offense. Each count brings up to eight years in federal prison,...

SACRAMENTO -- A Lodi ice cream vendor pleaded guilty Wednesday to a lesser charge of trying to smuggle cash to Pakistan rather than be retried on allegations that he lied to the FBI about his son's attendance at a terrorist training camp. Umer Hayat, 48, was convicted of lying to customs agents about more than $28,000 he and family members were trying to carry on a flight out of the country three years ago. In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges that he lied to the FBI and he will serve no more jail time after spending nearly a year behind bars....

Feds to Retry Man Accused of Lying to FBI SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 5, 2006 (AP) Federal prosecutors will retry an ice cream vendor on charges that he lied to the FBI about his son's attendance at a terrorist training camp, authorities announced Friday. Umer Hayat's first trial ended with the jury deadlocked last month. The same day, a separate jury convicted his son, Hamid Hayat, of supporting terrorism by attending an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan. U.S. District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. set June 5 to begin selecting a new jury for the father's retrial. "This case is simply...

Local residents were shocked Tuesday to learn 23-year-old Lodi resident Hamid Hayat was found guilty by a federal jury on separate counts of lying to the FBI about his connections to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and providing material support to terrorists. The news came hours after a different jury declared a mistrial in the case against Hayat's father, Umer Hayat, who faced similar charges. The jury's forewoman, Woodbridge resident Debra Kiriu, claimed both sides failed to present any conclusive evidence in the case against the 48-year-old ice cream vendor. Word of the deadlock in the Umer Hayat case...

Residents in this Central Valley town had hoped to set aside the suspicions that divided them in the 11 months since federal agents arrested a young man, his father and two Muslim religious leaders amid terrorism allegations. But the government's chief prosecutor said Wednesday that the investigation is continuing - a day after a federal jury convicted 23-year-old Hamid Hayat of providing material support to terrorists by attending a training camp in Pakistan in 2003 and lying about it to the FBI. U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott is considering seeking a new trial for Hayat's father, Umer, 48, after a separate...

[Updated 3:59 p.m. Tuesday] Hamid Hayat, the 23-year-old Lodi man on trial for terrorist-related activities in Sacramento federal court, was found guilty Tuesday, just hours after a mistrial was declared in the related trial of his father, who was accused of lying to the FBI to cover up for his son. Hayat was found guilty of providing material support to terrorists by allegedly attending an al-Qaida camp while visiting Pakistan in 2003 and three counts of lying about it. He faces up to 39 years in prison if convicted of all charges against him.

A mistrial was declared Tuesday in the federal terrorism trial of a Lodi man charged with lying to protect his son, who authorities say attended an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan. The announcement came one day after the jury told U.S. District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. that it could not reach a unanimous decision. "Their jury declared that it was hopelessly deadlocked this morning," deputy court clerk Carol Davis said. Burrell questioned each member of the jury and then discharged them, she said. Umer Hayat, a 48-year-old ice cream vendor, is charged with lying to FBI agents about...

'Book of Jihad' found in terror suspects' Lodi home, FBI says DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO - Federal agents found publications promoting jihad and a Pakistani militant group in the central California home of a father and son charged with lying about involvement in an al-Qaida training camp, a prosecutor said Wednesday.FBI officials found the items while searching the family home in Lodi two days after the men were arrested last June, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Tice-Raskin said during the men's trial in U.S. District Court."This is the book entitled 'Book of Jihad,'" he said. "It teaches the virtues of...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A Pakistani cleric facing deportation was accused Friday during an immigration hearing of trying to incite followers to defend Osama bin Laden and kill Americans. Shabbir Ahmed, 39, seeking bail on a charge of overstaying his visa to head a Lodi mosque in the Central Valley, denied that he had made any speech against the United States. During the same hearing, a government attorney said another Lodi imam being held on immigration charges once had close ties to the Taliban. Justice Department attorney Paul Nishiie argued against releasing Ahmed on bail, saying he was linked to...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A lead FBI agent on Tuesday linked two local Muslim clerics to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, contending the two were planning to set up a school near Lodi that would breed anti-American terrorism. The agent testified that Lodi clerics Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammed Adil Khan were prepared to relay information on terrorist plots from sources close to bin Laden. The allegations were dismissed by Ahmed's lawyer, who said the FBI and federal prosecutors have "made the whole thing up." The striking allegations came during an immigration hearing for Ahmed at which Immigration Judge Anthony Murry...

Unbeknownst to most Americans, federal prosecutors opened their case recently in the terrorism trial of a young American who studied under two Taliban-tied imams in California and whose grandfather was Pakistan’s minister of religion in the 1980’s. The trial of Hamid Hayat, 23, is not taking place in the dark of night nor in a military tribunal from which the media is barred. It is in an open California courtroom, the very kind that has been overrun for trials of the likes of Scott Peterson and O.J. Simpson. Yet in the month of February, the New York Times had exactly...

Vastly different pictures emerged today of a man charged with attending an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan, with government attorneys portraying Hamid Hayat as a trained terrorist intent on attacking Americans while his defense described him as a directionless young man prone to wild storytelling. Prosecutors said they will show the 23-year-old Lodi man traveled to Pakistan in 2003 and 2004 to train at the camp. They also said he was awaiting information about potential targets after he returned to his family's home in the heart of California's farming region. "Hamid Hayat talked about jihad before he even left the United...

TIKRIT, Iraq, Jan. 19, 2006 – As he loaded his Humvee with school supplies donated by people in the United States, Army Capt. Dan Ruecking couldn't hold back his enthusiasm. Boxes of crayons, color markers, rulers, pencils and notebooks filled his vehicle. Within minutes of his arrival in Hayat, Iraq, the supplies would be passed out to needy Iraqi children in the small village. Ruecking, commander of Howitzer Battery, 1st "Tiger" Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Jan. 14 to mark the opening of a school that was renovated as part of a civil-military operations project...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday rejected bail for a Lodi man involved in a terrorism investigation, finding that his relatives could not properly post his $1.2 million bond. U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott said he was gratified by the ruling, which overturned a decision last month by a federal magistrate who approved bail for Umer Hayat. Hayat's attorney said he will appeal Wednesday's decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Hayat, 47, was arrested in June and charged with lying to the FBI by denying that his son attended an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan...

The young men were at loose ends in Lackawanna, a blue-collar town in upstate New York. Restless and curious about their Islamic heritage, they started meeting secretly with a charismatic Muslim fundamentalist who persuaded them to trek to Afghanistan to attend a military training camp. It's a long way from Lackawanna to Lodi, but there are parallels between the New York case and the unfolding federal probe in the San Joaquin County town. --snip-- The seven Lackawanna men headed for Afghanistan in the spring of 2001, according to news accounts of their case. They told their families and friends in...

The FBI is investigating the possibility that six other Lodi-area men attended terrorist training camps in Pakistan in addition to Hamid Hayat, the initial suspect arrested in the government's ongoing probe of al-Qaida connections in the San Joaquin city. According to federal court documents obtained by The Bee, Hamid Hayat and his father, Umer, claimed the suspected Lodi jihadists reported to Muhammed Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed, two imams they say came to the Lodi Muslim Mosque from Pakistan to groom students for terrorist training camps. Khan and Ahmed are being held for allegedly violating immigration laws, and through their...

A Muslim cleric from Lodi, one of five members of the Pakistani community in the San Joaquin County city arrested by federal authorities this month, told an immigration judge Friday that he made anti-American speeches to crowds in Pakistan in the first months of the U.S.-led invasion of neighboring Afghanistan. A bail hearing in San Francisco for Shabbir Ahmed, facing deportation for allegedly overstaying his visa, provided a forum for the government to counter his supporters' claims that Ahmed is a peaceful clergyman victimized by anti- Islamic hysteria.

A Muslim cleric from Lodi, one of five members of the Pakistani community in the San Joaquin County city arrested by federal authorities this month, told an immigration judge Friday that he made anti-American speeches to crowds in Pakistan in the first months of the U.S.-led invasion of neighboring Afghanistan. A bail hearing in San Francisco for Shabbir Ahmed, facing deportation for allegedly overstaying his visa, provided a forum for the government to counter his supporters' claims that Ahmed is a peaceful clergyman victimized by anti- Islamic hysteria. As the imam of a mosque in the capital city of Islamabad...

Source: South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG) The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reported to have uncovered an Al Qaeda sleeper cell in Lodi , near Sacramento in California . All of those so-far arrested in this connection ---- Hamid and his father Umer Hayat, Muhammed Adil Khan, Shabbir Ahmed Mohammed and Khan's son Hassan Adil - are Pakistanis or American nationals of Pakistani origin. amid is alleged to have attended an Al Qaeda training camp at a place called Tamal near Rawalpindi in 2003-04.Khan and Mohammed are described as two Imams from the Lodi Mosque. The Muslim community...

By Ross Farrow News-Sentinel Staff Writer Last updated: Friday, Jun 17, 2005 - 06:57:34 am PDT A man the FBI arrested last week on a charge of lying about attending a terrorism camp in Pakistan ironically played a role in a service in Lodi preaching peace and understanding among the world's many cultures following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Hamid Hayat, 22, remains in custody at Sacramento County Jail because of his alleged link to terrorism, yet he recited a passage from the Quran during a special service on Sept. 18, 2001, that was attended by Christians and Muslims...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A father and son from Lodi were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges that they lied to authorities investigating links to Pakistani terrorist training camps connected to al-Qaida. Hamid Hayat, 22, allegedly lied to the FBI earlier this month when he said he did not attend a terrorism camp in Pakistan last year and in 2003, prosecutors said. He was charged with two counts of lying to the FBI. His father, Umer Hayat, 47, was charged with a single count of lying to investigators when he denied that his son had attended such camps....

While FBI agents say they're doing everything they can to treat local Muslims with respect while investigating terrorism allegations, not all people coming in contact with the FBI are happy. "There have been threats of deportation, telling someone they can't have an attorney, when the attorney was on the phone they wouldn't speak to the attorney," said Basim Elkarra, executive director of Sacramento CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Other allegations include threats of being detained if someone even jaywalks. FBI officials met with Elkarra on Saturday, where they addressed the concerns. FBI spokeswoman Marcie Soligo said the meeting helped...

Lodi Series, Part I - Why Pakistan? June 16, 2005 - Lodi, CA - PipeLineNews - Although Osama bin-Laden formed al-Qaeda in 1988 during the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, possibly of more immediate concern with regard to understanding the events as they unfold in Lodi is The International Islamic Front for Holy War Against Jews and Crusaders [IIF] which bin-Laden founded in February of 1998 as a world-wide confederation of terror groups. The IIF immedately issued the following fatwa against the United States, the now infamous declaration of war: "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies, civilians,...

It couldn't have been more of a surprise if the alleged terror cell had been discovered in Peoria. But the FBI says the father-and-son team lived in Lodi, California. (Wasn't there once a popular song about that lonely little town? Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi, again… .) Anyway, Hamid Hayat, 22, and his father Umer Hayat, 47, were arrested there last weekend. The feds say the younger Hayat visited an al-Qaida summer camp for terrorists. (We can imagine the scavenger hunts and canoeing between target practicing and bomb making.) Hamid Hayat admitted going to the training — after first failing...

OAKLAND - As nearly 100 federal agents working out of a Sacramento command post investigate a Lodi father's and son's possible ties to an al-Qaida-run training camp in Pakistan, national debate is heating up over the government's primary anti-terrorism tool. The USA Patriot Act - passed by Congress in the weeks following the September 2001 terrorist attacks - is up for reauthorization and possible expansion. Lawmakers, local governments, university faculty groups and advocates from many different political corners are asking whether the act has worked and at what cost to civil liberties. A collection of former intelligence, law enforcement and...

When 20-year-old Hamid Hayat left his home in California a little more than two years ago, he was like a lot of young Americans—aimless and a bit unsure about his future. Rail-thin and addicted to videogames, he lived with his parents in Lodi, Calif., a small farming town south of Sacramento. An amiable ice-cream vendor, his father, Umer Hayat, was known around the neighborhood as Homer, after the "Simpsons" sticker on the back of his truck. But the younger Hayat had trouble finding steady work. So when his mother fell ill with liver disease in 2003, the family traveled back...

NVC cops tell FBI of suspicious police exam Two arrested after Lodi man ducked out of academy test; no clear link to on-going terrorist probe Saturday, June 11, 2005 By MARSHA DORGAN Register Staff Writer As an investigation of possible terrorist activity unfolds in Lodi, law enforcement officials in Napa acknowledge that in April they contacted federal authorities after arresting a Lodi resident who suspiciously ducked out of a Napa Valley College Police Academy exam and had someone else take his place. Zakariya Ali, 21, of Lodi showed up April 2 to take the entrance exam at NVC Police Academy,...

This week's arrest of five Lodi men by the FBI is the latest episode in the internal dissension that has rocked Lodi's Muslim community for more than a year. Tensions have been so pronounced that the Lodi Muslim Mosque has sued the leader of an effort to build an elementary school and worship center on Lower Sacramento Road. A defendant in the lawsuit, Mohammad Adil Khan, was one of the three men arrested this week on immigration charges. The power base at the Lodi Muslim Mosque changed significantly in the fall of 2003, with Mohammad Shoaib taking over as president...

My buddy Jedd forwarded the following to me from The Roundup: Apology time? Way back in March, Gov. Schwarzenegger derided the Legislature for not engaging on serious issues. "But it does look like the legislators, facing the deadline for filing legislation, did find time to introduce bills on cosmetic surgery for dogs, the name of our baseball team in Anaheim and where ice cream trucks can park," the governor said. The latter referred to AB 1148 by Lodi Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi, which would make it a crime for ice cream trucks to double park. The bill never even got a...

Et Tu, Pakistan?... According to court records, 22-year-old Hamid Hayat confessed he spent six months in 2003-04 at an al-Qaida training camp near Rawalpindi, Pakistan, a suburb of capital Islamabad and home to none other than Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a "key" ally in the war who claims to be cracking down on terrorism in his country. ...Rawalpindi happens to be the same place 9-11 mastermind and Pakistani national Khalid Sheikh Mohammed hid after the attack. (As the 9-11 Commission Report concluded, much of the 9-11 plot was hatched from Pakistan.)Pakistan denies hosting any terror training camps, just as...

SACRAMENTO - Federal authorities who arrested two men and detained three others this week in a terrorism probe say they have been investigating members of a Central Valley Pakistani community for years and expect more developments in the weeks ahead. But they aren't saying just how the men came to their attention, how far the connections extend and exactly what kind of attacks - if any - they were plotting. FBI spokesman John Cauthen on Thursday said the investigation was not triggered by an internal rift within Lodi's Pakistani community, as some members had suggested. "This specific investigation has been...

Five men, including two father and son pairs, have now been arrested as federal law enforcement officers try to determine whether they have uncovered a network of Al Qaida supporters in Northern California. Father and son Umer and Hamid Hayat were arrested over the weekend in Lodi, Calif., on criminal charges. Three Pakistani citizens are also being held on immigration violations. Lodi is an agricultural community 40 miles south of Sacramento. Two law enforcement sources have confirmed to FOX News that there is a connection between the Hayats and the Pakistani citizens. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159002,00.html Umer, the father and an ice cream...

LODI, California (CNN) -- Authorities say they believe a father and son arrested in the quaint northern California community of Lodi were involved in a larger al Qaeda plan to carry out jihad, or holy war, against the United States. "We believe through our investigation that various individuals connected to al Qaeda have been operating in the Lodi area in various capacities," FBI special agent in charge Keith Slotter told reporters Wednesday. He said those included "individuals who have received terrorist training abroad, with the specific intent to initiate a terrorist attack in the United States and to harm Americans...

  Feds Probe Possible California Terror Cell Thursday, June 09, 2005 SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Federal law enforcement officers are trying to determine whether they have uncovered a network of Al Qaeda supporters in Northern California. Two law enforcement sources have confirmed to FOX News that there is a connection between Umer and Hamid Hayat, the father and son arrested over the weekend in Lodi, Calif., on criminal charges, and two Pakistani citizens currently being held on immigration violations. Lodi is an agricultural community 40 miles south of Sacramento. The son allegedly received terrorist training and funding from the father, an ice...

Terror case raises fears of sleeper cells By Shaun Waterman UPI Homeland and National Security Editor Washington, DC, Jun. 8 (UPI) -- The arrest of two Pakistani-Americans on charges that they lied to federal agents about undergoing terror training in Pakistan has highlighted the threat posed by "second generation" Islamic militants and the persistent presence of terrorist bases in a country that says it is an ally in the U.S. war on terror. An FBI affidavit says that Hamid Hayat, 22, told agents he had spent six months in 2003-2004 at a camp near Rawalpindi in Pakistan, where he received...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - The FBI has arrested a Pakistani-American father and son living in California after the son admitted to attending an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. Hamid Hayat, 23, and his father, Umer, 45, of Lodi, 35 miles (60 km) south of state capital Sacramento, were taken into custody over the weekend. Both men are being held in Sacramento on charges of lying to federal authorities. "We believe through our investigation that various individuals connected to al Qaeda have been operating in the Lodi area in various capacities," Keith Slotter, special agent...

FBI arrests father and son shortly after the younger man returns from overseas, where he allegedly trained at an Al Qaeda camp. Lodi, CA – FBI agents have arrested a man and his father after the son allegedly admitted attending Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan that taught participants "how to kill Americans," federal authorities said Tuesday. In a case that was still unfolding, officials confirmed that Hamid Hayat, 23, and his father, Umer, 47, were taken into custody Sunday. Authorities said late Tuesday that they were still trying to determine whether the arrests represented the discovery of a small...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Federal authorities arrested a father and son after the younger man allegedly acknowledged that he attended an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan to learn "how to kill Americans," according to published reports. Hamid Hayat and his father, Umer Hayat, 47, were arrested over the weekend on charges of lying to federal agents, FBI agent John Cauthen confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday night. According to prosecutors, Hamid Hayat trained to use explosives and other weapons, using photographs of President Bush as targets. The Sacramento Bee reported his age as 22; the Los Angeles Times said he is...

Federal officials believe they have broken up an al Qaeda terror cell operating in Lodi and have arrested two men and detained two others as part of a wide-ranging investigation, authorities said Tuesday. One of the men arrested, 22-year-old Hamid Hayat, is accused in a federal criminal complaint of training in an al Qaeda camp in Pakistan to learn “how to kill Americans” and then lying to FBI agents about it. His training included explosives and weapons instruction and using photographs of President Bush as targets, court documents indicate. More:http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/v-print/story/13022958p-13869232c.html

Asia News, KARACHI - A Pakistani court on Thursday ordered the release on bail of two doctors accused of helping injured Al Qaeda militants and local extremists, court officials said. Heart specialist Akmal Waheed and his brother, orthopaedic surgeon Arshad Waheed, were seized in July in Karachi for alleged ties to Osama bin Laden’s network and to a group accused of a deadly attack on a top army general’s convoy. The provincial high court in Karachi told the pair to deposit their passports to prevent them fleeing the country, public prosecutor Habib Ahmed told AFP. “We have opposed their release,...

Pakistan Arrests Al Qaeda Suspect, Eight Militants Sun Jun 13, 2004 01:16 PM ET ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan arrested an al Qaeda suspect with a $1 million reward on his head and eight other militants suspected of ambushing Karachi's military commander last week, the information minister said on Sunday. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Reuters that an Arab national, an important member of the al Qaeda network, had been arrested. He was identified as Musaad Aruchi."The al Qaeda person is the nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," the minister said.Khalid was the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks...