EBH
Since Oct 24, 2004
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EBH
Since Oct 24, 2004
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The size of a lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, for the vast masses of a nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived than consciously and intentionally bad. The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell big ones.
I believe everyone needs to take personal responsibility for themselves.
As was once said to me,"Your choices dictate the life you lead."
Man Pleads Guilty In Shopping Mall Bomb Plot Central
Jul 31 2007 7:39PM http://www.ohionewsnow.com/?sec=news&story=sites/10tv/content/pool/200707/539785389.html COLUMBUS, Ohio - A Somali pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to a charge involving a plot to blow up a central Ohio shopping mall.
Nuradin Abdi (pictured, right) agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to providing material support for terrorists, 10TV's Kevin Landers reported.
He was indicted on four counts but only pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to provide material support charge, Landers reported.
Abdi was scheduled to go on trial in federal court next week, 10TV reported.
Abdi was accused of wanting to blow up a shopping mall. The target was never made public, 10TV News reported.
Abdi's attorney spoke with reporters following his client's hearing.
"It's better to minimize your losses," said Mahir Sharif. "He has a life ahead of him. Let's face it, with all due respect to America and Americans, the jury he was going to face are not his peers."
When asked if his client would testify in any other cases, Sharif said he would not.
"He said, 'I am a Muslim I'm not going to go in front of the government and testify against any other Muslims,'" Sharif said.
A spokesman for Abdi's family also addressed reporters.
"This makes the family more comfortable," said Yusef Abucar. "Even though they are not very happy with the outcome of the plea."
Convicted terrorist Iyman Faris, who also lived in Columbus, was scheduled to testify on Abdi's behalf next week, the newspaper reported. Faris was to say that Abdi's comments represented his anger with U.S. foreign policy and not an actual plan to blow up a mall.
Faris is serving a 20-year prison sentence for plotting to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge.
Abdi will most likely be sentenced to 10 years in prison, Landers reported. He will also face deportation after being released
Trucker Threatens To 'Blow Up Cleveland' Driver from Detroit was apparently mad at other truckers. A truck driver from Detroit is now facing charges of inducing panic in Lake County. Other truckers told police they heard 36 year old Sekou Fofana say he was loaded with explosives and would “blow up Cleveland.” Once he was stopped, the bomb squad checked his truck and found only magazines. Fofana initially told police his CB wasn't working and was turned off, but he eventually told investigators that other drivers were making fun of him and told him he sounded like a terrorist.http://www.wtam.com/pages/localnews.html?feed=122520&article=417657
Damra accepts deportation order
Middle East host country being sought
Friday, January 06, 2006
James F. McCarty
Plain Dealer Reporter
Fawaz Damra, spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, agreed Thursday to a deportation order that will send him to one of four Middle Eastern countries or the Palestinian territories.
A jury in federal court in Akron convicted Damra in 2004 of lying about his links to Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994. A judge sentenced him to two months in prison and stripped him of his citizenship.
Visit Damra Terror Case for more information on the Damra case. Including how the ACLU urges court to reject FBI secrecy in Damra wiretap!
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Grand jury widens scope of charges against Islamic Mosque of Cleveland founder, associates
Updated:2/1/2006 7:24:02 PM
CLEVELAND -- He founded the Islamic Center of Cleveland. Now, he, his family and his staff face charges for money laundering and other crimes. Ahbrar Haque is the man in the center of the investigation. Now, a grand jury has widened the scope of the charges against he and his associates.
In February 2005, Federal agents raided the accounting offices of Haque, the Islamic Center's founder. In April, he, his wife and two associates were charged in Federal Court for money laundering. Now, 10 months later, 11 more of his associates have been charged.
Last February, federal agents removed box after box from Haque's accounting business, Ahbrar CPA, on Lorain Avenue in Cleveland. The seizure of those documents, investigators say, are what lead to the new charges. Haque and the 13 others are charged with creating false documentation for immigration purposes, money laundering, falsifying payroll records, filing false tax returns, mail and wire fraud and more. Four of those charged Wednesday, including Haque, were also charged last April. He along with his wife, brother and a long list of employees from the Cleveland area are now part of that growing list facing charges.
A piece of this investigation also centers on the Ihsan School of Excellence in Cleveland. Haque founded and managed that school. Investigators say Haque's staff created false employment tax reports for those working at the school.
In addition to the document seizure at the CPA's offices last February, investigators also raided his Berea home last year. Federal investigators did not go before cameras Wednesday. Where all this money was going or what the big picture motive was for these activities is not being elaborated on. Only two of the newly charged individuals have been taken into custody. The others will be served subpoenas as part of this 66-page indictment that contains 76 counts.
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=47106
Update Investigations of Arab Americans draw complaints
BY MIKE TOBIN
c.2007 Newhouse News Service
\ CLEVELAND -- Federal agencies increasingly are fighting the war on terror with tax laws and food stamp regulations.
Investigators from the FBI, IRS and other agencies have turned to tactics similar to those that broke the Mafia to investigate people suspected of funneling money to terrorists overseas.
Decades ago, FBI agents snagged mobsters in low-level crimes and then persuaded them to testify against their bosses in return for lighter prison sentences. These days, federal investigators recruit Arab informants involved in crimes such as food stamp fraud, income tax evasion and drug trafficking, to penetrate organizations that investigators believe might be sending money to terrorists.
Critics in the Arab-American and Muslim communities complain that the tactics are nothing more than ethnic and religious profiling. The investigations target businesses started by recent immigrants and alienate the community without making a dent in terrorism, the critics say.
Law enforcement officials acknowledge that while there have been no terror-related indictments in Cleveland, they investigate tips that come in and then make the best case they can. A big part of their focus has been trying to disrupt the money flow by giving greater scrutiny to groups with access to large sums of cash.
A recent trial in U.S. District Court shed light on an investigation that ensnared several Arab-owned businesses. In the case of Abrar Haque, the FBI sent an undercover informant into Haque's Cleveland accounting firm after getting tips that Haque was sending money abroad to terrorists.
Agents used the informant, wiretapped phones and secret video recordings but found no evidence that Haque was sending money to terrorists.
They did learn, though, that he sold phony financial documents that his clients -- almost exclusively small-business owners from the Middle East -- used to obtain fraudulent bank loans or welfare benefits or free health care coverage intended for the poor.
Altogether, at least 15 people have been charged in the Haque investigation, and prosecutors expect more indictments.
Isam Zaiem, chair of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Cleveland office, said the Haque case is an example of law enforcement agencies targeting Middle Eastern immigrants based on assumptions and flawed information.
``Not only in Cleveland but across the country, there's a perception that law enforcement, post-9/11, have been targeting Muslims and Arabs," Zaiem said. "We feel there's been an intentional targeting of the community."
In some ways, there has been.
Haque's case was investigated by members of the FBI's Middle Eastern Criminal Enterprise task force. The group's name was changed a few months ago, dropping the Middle Eastern designation, and it now works under the Organized Criminal Enterprises Task Force umbrella.
Law enforcement leaders deny there is an official strategy of targeting Arab- or Muslim-owned businesses.
FBI Special Agent James McTighe said law enforcement agencies are more focused on the ways terrorists get money after the Sept. 11 attacks, but he denies specific groups are being singled out for investigation.
``If it leads to evidence of terror financing, we pursue it," McTighe said.
The Haque investigation began when someone told federal investigators that Haque might be sending money to terrorists or organizations that supported them.
Haque was a popular figure in the local Muslim community, and penetrating his circle of friends and business associates proved difficult.
Investigators got nowhere until they found someone in trouble who needed to make a deal.
Mohammed Hasan of North Olmsted, Ohio, was involved in a methamphetamine ring. Hasan pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering in 2002 and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. All Hasan had to offer in hopes of getting a shorter sentence was some information his friend Mohammed Abdelqader had.
Abdelqader, in an effort to help his friend, agreed to help the FBI conduct a sting. He was to ask Haque to fudge the numbers for his business and to help him send money overseas to support terror groups.
During Haque's trial in November, prosecutors played secretly recorded tapes of meetings between Haque and Abdelqader. Abdelqader gave Haque shopping bags full of cash, and in return Haque gave him $300,000 worth of checks that Abdelqader could deposit into a bank.
Depositing such a large amount of cash would have raised suspicions of federal investigators.
Armed with this knowledge, FBI agents got court approval to break into Haque's offices at night and go through his business records. They discovered a "one-stop shop for fraud," Assistant U.S. Attorney James Moroney said.
Haque sold his customers fake documents showing they made far more or far less money than was true, depending on their needs. For example, a man who owned a gas station bought documents that showed he made just $975 a month -- low enough for his children to qualify for Medicaid. Then he bought documents showing a much higher income when he needed a bank loan to buy a $250,000 house.
Investigators had reams of incriminating evidence against more than a dozen business owners -- almost all of whom were Muslims of Arab descent.
But lawyers for Haque and two other defendants said the government was trying to trap Haque.
``They thought he was some kind of terrorist and were after him, but they have no evidence of that," said Thomas Paris, Haque's lawyer.
Haque was convicted on more than 60 counts, including conspiracy, fraud and money laundering. His brother, Akram Haque, and Abdur Rashid, the imam at the Islamic Mosque, were convicted on similar charges after a three-week trial. Terrorism charges were not part of the case against them or the 12 other people who pleaded guilty to charges related to the Haque investigation.
Jan. 2, 2007
(Mike Tobin is a reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. He can be contacted at mtobin@plaind.com.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Feminist Daily News Wire
July 26, 2000
Honor Killing Goes Unpunished in Cleveland
Tweny-one-year-old Methal Dayem, who was fatally shot on January 8, 1999, refused to give up an independent lifestyle for the submissive version of womanhood that her male cousins attempted to force upon her in the name of Islam, prosecutors and female family members say. On July 26, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Thomas J. Pokorny found Yezen Dayem innocent, due to DNA evidence found on gloves at the scene. Prosecutors presented evidence that Yezen Dayem's car was seen near the scene, and that cellular phone records showed him placing a call one mile from the scene of the shooting around the time of the murder. A second cousin accused in the shooting, Musa Salleh, had his case dismissed for lack of evidence. Methal Dayem's mother, sister and aunt were extremely angered by the decision, and are still seeking justice in this so-called honor killing.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A KindHearts primer
Monday, February 20, 2006
What is KindHearts?
A Toledo-based nonprofit that collects more than $4 million a year in donations, making it one of the largest Muslim charities in the United States.
Why did the government raid KindHearts' offices and freeze its assets? The Treasury Department has accused KindHearts of funneling money to Hamas, which the government considers a terrorist organization.
Who runs KindHearts? Khaled Smaili of Toledo founded it in 2002. He is a former fund-raiser for Global Relief Foundation, a charity that the United States shut down for funding terrorism. Jihad Smaili, Khaled Smaili's brother, serves on KindHearts' board of directors and is the group's attorney from his downtown Cleveland office.
Where does the money go? KindHearts insists that most of it goes to help needy Palestinians in both the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. The U.S. government claims that KindHearts is also supporting Hamas.
How does KindHearts raise money? Through its Web site, www.kind-hearts.org, and at fund-raisers held across the country, usually at mosques.
When did KindHearts open? In 2002, after the U.S. government closed the three largest Muslim charities in the country, accusing each of supporting terror.
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3 Charged With Planning Attacks in Iraq
Feb 21 11:40 AM US/Eastern
CLEVELAND
A federal grand jury has indicted three Ohio men on charges of planning attacks on U.S. military personnel in Iraq, according to an indictment.
The three men, who all lived in Toledo within the last year, were arrested over the weekend, said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Bauer in Toledo. The indictment was unsealed Monday.
They were to be arraigned in federal courts in Cleveland and Toledo on Tuesday afternoon.
The suspects recruited others to train for a violent holy war against the United States and its allies in Iraq, the indictment said. The group traveled together to a shooting range to practice shooting guns and studied how to make explosives, the indictment said.http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/21/D8FTK4U83.html
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Documents from Muslim charity seized during terror arrests
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/13962280.htm
Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio - Documents seized by federal agents suggest that two of three Muslim men accused of plotting to kill American and allied soldiers may have ties to a Muslim charity suspected of funneling money to the militant organization Hamas.
Federal agents seized an invoice from the charity, known as KindHearts, from a travel agency where defendant Mohammad Zaki Amawi worked.
Agents also took a KindHearts binder from an address where defendant Marwan Othman El-Hindi lived.
Lists of items seized were filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Toledo.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And it just keeps rolling along...
Khaled Smaili was the Public Relations Representative for the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), which the U.S. government shut down in December 2001 because of its ties to terrorism.
His brother is: Jihad M. Smaili, Esq., yes the attorney talking in the above article.
And if you're really curious check out these:
http://members.aol.com/ghazzeh/pics.htm and then click the link to their home page, scrowl to the bottom, interesting language used to describe the photos eh? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cops Downplay Rumours Surrounding Murder
Cindy Clyne Thursday, September 21, 2006
Ottawa Police are downplaying speculation that the murder of a young woman early Tuesday might be an honour killing. Responding to some published reports, Constable Steven Desjourdy says that there is no evidence to suggest an honour killing at this point. 20 year old Hasibullah Sadiqi is wanted for questioning in the shooting that killed his sister, 20 year old Khatera Sadiqi, and seriously wounded her fiance, 23 year old Feroz Mangal. Ottawa Police have asked police in neighbouring cities like Toronto and Montreal to be on the look-out for Sadiqi. The two victims were shot as they sat in a car in the parking lot at the Elmvale Shopping Centre. http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp?cat=1&nid=42909
Imam guilty of selling guns & ammo
By GLORIA CAMPISI
campisg@phillynews.com 215-854-5935
A man identified by authorities as a West Philadelphia imam has been convicted of selling numerous handguns and assault rifles from a clothing stand he operated at 52nd and Chestnut streets.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office here said a federal jury yesterday convicted Wayne Hogue, 47, also known as "Imam Wadir" and Shahdeed Bay, of selling the weapons and ammunition, including hollow-point bullets, between May 9, 2003, and March 23, 2004.
Authorities identified Hogue as "an imam of the 52nd Street Mosque," for which an exact address was not provided, as well as a convicted felon, which prohibits him from possessing firearms.
The nature of Hogue's previous conviction was not disclosed. Hogue could not immediately be reached.
"Evidence at trial included numerous audiotapes of Hogue selling firearms to a confidential informant," according to Richard Manieri, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office. Sentencing is set for December.
The weapons included two Norinko 7.62 mm assault rifles - one loaded with 30 rounds; three Berettas; a disassembled 12- gauge shotgun with a 28-inch barrel; a Colt .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun with the serial numbers obliterated; a Phoenix Arms .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun Raven model with three live hollow-point rounds in the magazine, and an AR-15 .223-caliber rifle with sawed-off barrel, serial number removed.
The case was investigated by a federal task force, which included the FBI and Philadelphia police.
Two Chicago men arrested on charges of planning, recruiting for "violent jihad" http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1788981/posts