Posts
since Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:04:17.
Lebanese-Born Swede Gets Life for Terror Camp Plot
Filed at 5:23 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- A Lebanese-born Swede was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for plotting to open a terrorism training camp in Oregon in 1999 to help al-Qaida.
U.S. District Judge John Keenan called Oussama Kassir ''a clear threat to public safety'' when he announced the sentence. Kassir was convicted in May on charges that he supported al-Qaida by trying to help open the camp in Bly, Ore.
Before the sentence was imposed, Kassir spoke through an interpreter, telling the judge that witnesses during his trial lied. He also said the jury could not have adequately studied the evidence because the deliberations lasted only two hours.
Kassir, 44, complained about his treatment in U.S. custody, saying that he was subjected to psychological and religious torture. He said he initially was not allowed to have a Quran and was not given food appropriate to his religion. When he refused to eat, he was tied to a chair and a tube was inserted ''in a violent fashion,'' causing him to feel close to death, he said.
The judge said he had ordered that Kassir be provided with a Quran and newspapers before his trial.
''In an effort to keep him alive, they force-fed him,'' Keenan said.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Kassir ''trained men to become terrorists on American soil.''
Prosecutors said in a release that for two months in late 1999 and early 2000, Kassir provided men at a Seattle mosque with jihad training lessons that included how to assemble and disassemble an assault rifle and how to alter it to launch a grenade.
To the defendants in the case, ''jihad meant defending Islam against its enemies through violence and armed aggression, including, if necessary, by using murder to expel nonbelievers from Muslim holy lands,'' prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also said Kassir told witnesses in Bly that he supported Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, and he established at least six terrorist Web sites between December 2001 and his December 2005 arrest in the Czech Republic.
Two of Kassir's co-defendants are detained in England and awaiting extradition to the United States.
At trial, prosecutors argued that Kassir tried to set up a weapons-training post in Oregon so al-Qaida could take advantage of relaxed U.S. gun laws and train European recruits for Islamic militancy.
Prosecutors also said Kassir distributed manuals over the Internet that trained militants on how to make bombs, poison people and slit throats.
Kassir spent several months in the United States in early 2000 before returning to Europe.
At Kassir's trial, James Ujaama, a Denver-born man who was a government witness, testified that Kassir became angered when he took him to Oregon because the camp there lacked young recruits and weapons.
Ujaama testified that he had wanted to start the camp to prepare Muslims to go to Afghanistan and fight the Taliban's enemies, but the camp never really got off the ground.
Ujaama is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to providing material support to terrorists by trying to set up the camp. His testimony could win him leniency from a potential 30-year prison term.
In court documents, Kassir is described by his lawyer as a father of four with a history of drug abuse and psychiatric problems who was extradited to the United States after spending roughly nine months in a Czech prison.
He was born and raised in Lebanon, where his father was killed by Israeli soldiers, according to his lawyer, Mark DeMarco. He then was sent by his mother to Stockholm where he became a citizen, attended college and worked for three years as a foreman for Pipeline Swedish, the lawyer wrote.
In court, DeMarco said his client was ''not this animal that is portrayed in the media.''
The Swedish Ministry of Justice said Kassir could apply to be transferred to Sweden and complete his sentence there, but that such a move would require approval from both Sweden and the United States.
Judicial experts say it is unlikely that the U.S. would allow Kassir to transfer soon. A Swedish woman, who was convicted of double murder in California in 1983, wasn't allowed to transfer to Sweden until April this year, after serving more than 25 years in prison.
--------
Associated Press writer Malin Rising in Stockholm contributed to this report. Sphere: Related Content
