Yemeni Islamic Cleric Deported For Raising Money For Terrorists In Brooklyn Mosques

The New York Daily News reports that "a Yemeni cleric whose conviction for raising cash for terrorists at Brooklyn mosques was reversed is expected to plead guilty and be deported, prosecutors said Wednesday. Mohammad Al Hasan Al-Moayad, the self-described 'spiritual leader' of Osama Bin Laden, will be going back to Yemen, not a federal prison where he was serving 75 years before the U.S. Court of Appeals threw out the conviction last fall. Co-defendant Mohammed Zayed, serving a 45-year sentence when the convictions were tossed out, also will plead guilty as part of the deal with the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office. Both will be sentenced to time served. The men have been jailed about seven years since being busted in Germany and extradited to the U.S. 'Retrial in this matter might be significantly delayed in light of defendant Al-Moayad's rapidly deteriorating health and the pleas provide a certain and prompt resolution,' Assistant U.S. Attorneys Pamela Chen and Jeffrey Knox said in a letter to Judge Dora Irizarry. Al-Moayad, 60, suffers from hepatitis C, cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes and his 'long-term prognosis under current conditions is poor,' the prosecutors said. Before the convictions were reversed, prosecutors had cited the case as a textbook example of how accused terrorists could be successfully tried in federal courts instead of military tribunals."
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