Idaho graduate student acquitted of using Internet to support terrorism

By Bob Fick
The Associated Press

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A jury of four men and eight women returned their verdicts after seven days of deliberation following a trial lasting seven weeks.

Al-Hussayen was acquitted on all three terrorism counts against him, as well as one count of making a false statement and two counts of visa fraud. Jurors could not reach verdicts on three more false statement counts and five additional visa fraud counts, and a mistrial was declared on those charges.

Al-Hussayen had appeared confident throughout the day, but had no visible reaction as the verdicts were read.

"What he said to me was, 'Calm down, it's going to be OK,"' Al-Hussayen's lead defense attorney, David Nevin, told a reporter just after the verdict was read.

The 34-year-old Muslim and Saudi-born Ph.D. candidate was accused of providing material support to terrorist groups — not with cash or arms, but with computer expertise. Al-Hussayen set up and ran Web sites that prosecutors say were used to recruit terrorists, raise money and disseminate inflammatory rhetoric.

Prosecutors claimed Al-Hussayen used the Web sites of the Islamic Assembly of North America as the foundation for an Internet network that helped finance and recruit terrorists for various organizations including the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

But his supporters said the government used vague anti-terrorism laws to prosecute Al-Hussayen for his beliefs.

Al-Hussayen's attorneys argued since his arrest in February 2003 that he was only volunteering his skills to the Michigan-based assembly to maintain its Web sites that promoted Islam. His defenders further argued that he had little to do with the creation of the material posted, and they said the material was protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of expression and was not designed to raise money or recruit militants.

Al-Hussayen, a member of a prominent Riyadh family, has been jailed since his arrest, continuing to work toward his doctorate from his cell. He had previously been declared subject to deportation regardless of the trial's outcome.

He faced up to 15 years for each of three terrorism charges, 25 years on each visa fraud charge and 5 years on each false statement charge.
 
John Dickinson, a University of Idaho professor who served as Al-Hussayen's academic advisor, said he hopes Al-Hussayen's acquittal "puts an end to a long and terrible aspect of Sami's life, and I hope he will be reunited with his wife and three children."

Jack Van Valkenburgh, director of the Idaho chapter of the ACLU, said the verdict was a victory for free speech.

"It was hard to imagine how they could have convicted on the terrorism charges in light of the First Amendment," he said. "What I heard from prosecution were only allegations of constitutionally protected speech, so I'm relieved."