Webmaster faces terrorist charges - 04/27/04 09:54 PM
A COMPUTER student from Idaho has been put on trial following his maintaining of web sites which promote, praise or plot acts of war on the West, in the name of Jihad � "holy war".
The student, Sami Omar al-Hussayen, is a webmaster for several fundamentalist Islamic websites, which linked to pro-suicide bombing sites which praise the bombings in Israel and Chechnya. His defence is that he doesn't hold the same views as the sites he links to and just links them for educational or informative purposes. He says he can't personally be held responsible for material that others wrote.
This is one of the few times anyone has been prosecuted in this way under the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act makes providing "expert guidance or assistance" to groups which may fund terrorism against the law. However, David Cole � a University law professor � told the New York Times someone who fixes a fax machine run by a terrorist organisation could be liable under the Patriot Act, as that falls under "expert guidance".
Hussayen has been charged with three counts of conspiracy to support terrorism, and 11 counts of visa and immigration fraud. The 34 year old was studying computer sciences at the University of Idaho.
Mr. Hussayen's supporters are accusing the government of abusing their power.
You can view the original article here...
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15554
The student, Sami Omar al-Hussayen, is a webmaster for several fundamentalist Islamic websites, which linked to pro-suicide bombing sites which praise the bombings in Israel and Chechnya. His defence is that he doesn't hold the same views as the sites he links to and just links them for educational or informative purposes. He says he can't personally be held responsible for material that others wrote.
This is one of the few times anyone has been prosecuted in this way under the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act makes providing "expert guidance or assistance" to groups which may fund terrorism against the law. However, David Cole � a University law professor � told the New York Times someone who fixes a fax machine run by a terrorist organisation could be liable under the Patriot Act, as that falls under "expert guidance".
Hussayen has been charged with three counts of conspiracy to support terrorism, and 11 counts of visa and immigration fraud. The 34 year old was studying computer sciences at the University of Idaho.
Mr. Hussayen's supporters are accusing the government of abusing their power.
You can view the original article here...
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