Terror Talk

This episode we talk about the FBI in relation to the Aref-Hossain case—not about what they did before and during it, but afterwards. And what we did in response. But before we go back in history, it’s worth mentioning that two of the FBI players are not only still with us today, but are front and center in the news. We’ve had experience with James Comey and Robert Mueller, and we’ll just take a few minutes to reminisce and talk about the roles they played in the case. James Comey was U.S. Assistant Atty General and announced the prosecution of the Aref-Hossain case in Washington, DC.  He said, “This is not a case connected to the current terrorist threat.  This is not a case where the defendants were discovered plotting terrorist violence.”  Which begs the question, then why are these men in prison?   Robert Mueller was director of the FBI and came to Albany on December 12, 2006—after the convictions but before sentencing. Supposedly visiting several field offices, but it is no coincidence that he came befo

The attorneys for both Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain (Yassin’s co-defendant) prepared appeals to the 2nd Circuit Court. At the same time, the Muslim Solidarity Committee organized a march and rally—the first one—and have marked the anniversary of their arrests (August 4) every year since 2007. We discuss "who is a terrorist."  Kathy Manley reviews the main points in the appeal.  We describe the trip fifty supporters took from Albany to New York City to hear the appeal. And, the podcast would not be complete without Kathy describing the secret oral argument the government was allowed to make to the appeal judges. Neither the defense or the public allowed to be present at this secret hearing.  Yes, folks, this happened in America.

In this episode we will hear directly from Yassin about what life is like in the brutal CMU - Communications Management Unit prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. While we were finding out more and more about this possibly illegal prison unit at Terre Haute from Yassin, the attorneys for both Yassin and Mohammed (Yassin’s co-defendant) were preparing appeals to the 2nd Circuit Court. At the same time, the Muslim Solidarity Committee organized the first march and rally marking the anniversary of their arrests (August 4) and turned this into an annual event, because we will not forget the unjust prosecution and imprisonment of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain.  

The last episode covered Sentencing Day, March 8, 2007 and brought you readings of support letters and editorials from community members, newspapers, and the defendants themselves. All were trying to get the judge to give Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain lenient sentences, instead of the 30 years to life that was recommended by federal guidelines. The Bureau of prisons is required to place a prisoner no more than 500 miles from home so that the family can visit. But this did not happen with either Mohammed or Yassin. Sentencing day will show you how doubts about both the case and the tactics remained in the minds of nearly everyone. An article by the Times Union reporter who covered the case actually provided new information about the case! The FBI's press release and press conference continue to raise questions about their guilt or innocence.

In the last episode we talked about all the community activity on behalf of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain between their guilty verdicts on October 10, 2006 and their sentencing, which was rescheduled to March 8, 2007. In this episode we’ll focus on sentencing day, March 8, and we’ll hear the opinions on the whole case, from community members, to media, to other prisoners, to some of us. And we will end with Yassin and Mohammed’s own thoughts, from the court transcript of their sentencing statements.

This is the third and final episode of our mini-series of The Trial of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, who were caught up in an FBI sting operation from 2003-2004. Their trial was in October 2006. We will discuss the verdict and all that came after it. Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain received a great deal of support from the Albany community, including fellow prisoners writing to the judge, editorials in the local daily papers, vigils at the court house, petitions and letters to the judge, all pleading for leniency.  

This is the second episode of our three-part mini-series of The Trial of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, who were caught up in an FBI sting operation from 2003-2004. Last time we covered the prosecution’s case, now it’s the defense’s turn. We talk about the judge’s targeting instruction. The judge said there were “good and valid reasons” to target Yassin Aref.  How can anyone get a fair trial when the judge says there are “good and valid reasons” to target the defendant?

We begin a three-part mini series on the trial of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain.  In this first episode of the mini-series, we present the prosecution’s case.  We read from trial transcripts and describe how the prosecution alarmed the jury by having a witness point a (disabled) missile at them, and read testimony of a government “expert” who knew nothing of the topic on which he was to testify.

The crucial aspect of the Aref-Hossain case, in order to convict Yassin, was to prove he was “predisposed” to commit terrorism, and so the government had to submit “evidence” to this effect - the government wanted to prove that Yassin had the “ideology".    The government did this by presenting certain deliberate mistranslations and innuendo from Yassin's journals, offering false ideas that Yassin held about the West, and by arguing Yassin's supposed connection to Mullah Krekar, a leader of the IMK in Damascus where Yassin worked. The government want to convict Yassin by using guilt by association.    Except: these proofs were not proof at all. Yassin was an activist for Kurdish independence, even as a young man; he was educated and keenly aware of international politics, including the role of the US in the 1990s in possibly liberating Kurdistan. Yassin was a poet, whose use of imagery and metaphor and imagination as a political tool was the prerogative of any literary artist. 

In this episode, we talk about the immigrant experience of Yassin Aref, and how this encouraged the government to pursue him. For the second half we’ll focus on a particular (and legal) harassment tactic, as used by the government in the war on terror, called a superseding indictment, and how it was used to further the case against Aref and Hossain.

Classified evidence was used extensively during the trial of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain.  Kathy Manley, one of Yassin’s attorneys, tells the story of the classified evidence in the case, the defense's unsuccessful fight to obtain it, and a secret court decision in violation of the Sixth Amendment.

Snipers were posted on the roof of the court house for the bail hearing for Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain.  In this episode, details of the bail hearing are discussed, as well as the general atmosphere of the times.  The two lawyers and two activists set the scene for the events surrounding the bail hearing; the war fever in 2004; and the adventures of one lawyer as he wore a “Peace on Earth” t-shirt to the local mall.

On August 4, 2004, two Muslim men in Albany, New York, were arrested by the FBI for a terror plot. Did the FBI really arrest a terrorist "Commander" from Iraq? Or, a medi-cab driver who was also the spiritual leader of an inner-city mosque? Two lawyers and two activists will describe the FBI raid on the mosque and begin the story of what happened to Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, the imam of the Masjid As-Salam, and a pizzeria owner.