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| 5th Buffalo-area man pleads Guilty |
| 2003-05-13 |
| EFL One of six terror defendants in Buffalo, N.Y., pleaded guilty Monday to "providing material support" to al-Qaida. Yasein Taher of Lackawanna, N.Y., and the other defendants were accused of attending an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan. He was the fifth defendant to plead guilty in the case. Taher pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny in Buffalo to count two of the indictment. The plea agreement requires Taher to cooperate fully with the government's ongoing investigation in this and other terrorism probes. In the plea agreement, Taher admits that in April 2001, he agreed with co-defendants Yahya Goba, Shafal Mosed, Faysal Galab, Mukhtar Al-Bakri, Sahim Alwan and others to attend the al-Farooq military-type training camp in Afghanistan. According to the plea agreement, Taher, Mosed and Galab arrived in Pakistan on or about April 29, 2001. Also in the agreement, Taher admits traveling with Galab and Mosed to Quetta, Pakistan, where they stayed at a guest house believed to be associated with al-Qaida. Motel 666 Taher also admits traveling with Galab and Mosed to a guest house in Kandahar, and viewing a movie or videotape on the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, the Justice Department said. Taher also admits traveling with Galab and Mosed to the al-Farooq training camp, and working under the direction and control of members of al-Qaida by receiving and taking orders from instructors at the camp. In addition, Taher admits in the plea agreement that he received training and instruction on the use of weapons while at al-Farooq, including a Kalashnikov rifle, 9mm handgun, M-16 automatic rifle and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, along with training on explosives and tactics. The agreement said that all persons at the camp, including Taher, were required to perform guard duty as part of their training. One trainee at the camp asked for volunteers to sign up for suicide missions, again according to the plea agreement. The agreement also said bin Laden visited al-Farooq while all six defendants were at the camp, and spoke about missions against the United States and Israeli interests. Taher left al-Farooq shortly after the bin Laden speech and before completing all of the training that was available. Taher faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both at sentencing at a later date, the government said. 5 down, 1 to go. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 Sounds like Mukhtar might want to think about caving too. Looks like nobody else wanted to play hard guy for the cause. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-05-13 13:38:31 |