BOISE, Idaho, 15 May 2004 — A federal judge on Thursday handed a major blow to a Saudi student accused of terrorism, allowing jurors to see inflammatory websites that allegedly had been posted from his home computer.
The government claims the websites prove that Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a computer science graduate student at the University of Idaho, used his computer skills to foster terrorism.
US District Judge Edward Lodge ruled that the evidentiary value of the websites, which contain articles extolling suicide bombings in defense of Islam, outweighed their prejudicial value against Al-Hussayen.
“These exhibits are no doubt prejudicial,” Lodge said. But, he added, “the court is not to weigh the evidence,” because that is for the jury.
Defense Attorney David Nevin had argued the material was intended to force jurors to infer without solid proof that Al-Hussayen supported ideas that he says the government believes are unacceptable. He then argued advocating such opinions is not a criminal act.
He cited an opinion this year from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that said, “Advocacy is pure speech protected by the First Amendment.”
But prosecutors argued, and Lodge agreed, the information showed Al-Hussayen knew the material was what encourages people to finance terrorist acts and, in some cases, become terrorists. Authorities said records show the material was posted on the Internet from his home computer.
One of the articles declared that “inferior Jews, the source of defects and shortcomings and the source of evil and depravity, are the most severe enemy of Allah, Islam and its followers.”
Another stated that since jihad, or holy war, “is an obligation even if Muslims are killed, then there is nothing greater than getting killed for the sake of jihad.”
The government has accused the 34-year-old Al-Hussayen of using his computer skills to turn the website of the Islamic Assembly of North America in Michigan into the platform for the Internet network encouraging terror. He is also charged with visa fraud and making false statements for allegedly trying to hide his association with the assembly.
Nevin has acknowledged the relationship with the assembly but has maintained Al-Hussayen was only a volunteer supporting the organization’s Islamic outreach programs. Any subversive material posted on the Internet, Nevin said, came from others or was just passed on from other sources by Al-Hussayen. If convicted of all charges, he could be sentenced to 240 years in prison.
