WASHINGTON, 27 February 2003 — A federal grand jury has indicted a Saudi student studying in Idaho for visa fraud and failing to disclose involvement in a charitable organization that the grand jury said promotes terrorism.
The indictment, returned by the grand jury earlier this month but unsealed yesterday, charged Sami Omar Al-Hussayen with fraudulently obtaining student visas and making false statements on visa applications and related paperwork.
Al-Hussayen was arrested yesterday morning in Moscow, Idaho. He was charged with failing to disclose his financial and operational involvement in the Michigan-based Islamic Assembly of North America.
According to the 11-count indictment, Al-Hussayen received and renewed student visas for computer studies and said he was in the United States solely to pursue his graduate studies.
The indictment alleges that from October 1998 Al-Hussayen routed thousands of dollars he received from overseas sources to the Islamic Assembly of North America. It says he provided computer expertise and website services to the organization.
The indictment alleges some of the websites promoted terrorism through suicide bombings and using airplanes as weapons.
“By failing to describe the role he played in IANA, its funding, and its operations on his visa application and related paperwork... Al-Hussayen defrauded the United States,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
If convicted, Al-Hussayen faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison for each of the visa fraud counts and five years for each false statement counts.
In Syracuse, New York, IANA and four other people involved with it were indicted yesterday on charges they illegally sent millions of dollars to Iraq in violation of government bans on money transfers to that country.
