Author: Kati Cornell Smith
Publication: New York Post
Date: February 12, 2004
URL: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/17805.htm
The feds suspect a Yemeni diplomat
drummed up cash for terror groups during a visit to Brooklyn mosques in
1999, an FBI agent testified yesterday.
The allegations against Sheik Abdullah
Satar came to light at the trial of Numan Maflahi, who the feds say acted
as the diplomat's personal assistant in New York. Maflahi is accused of
lying to the FBI.
Authorities watched Satar round-the-clock
from the time he landed at JFK Airport Dec. 28, 1999, monitoring his whirlwind
tour of mosques.
Satar later flew to Italy, where
he gave a speech calling for jihad and met with an al Qaeda operative who
has since been convicted of aiding terrorists, FBI agent Brian Murphy testified.
The diplomat was back on the feds'
radar last year during an investigation into another Yemeni cleric, Sheik
Mohammed Al Hasan Al-Moayad, who is awaiting trial on charges he supplied
al Qaeda and Hamas with $20 million collected in Brooklyn.
An FBI informant learned that a
sympathizer who was afraid to send money to Al- Moayad after Sept. 11,
2001, was secretly taped saying it would be safer to channel contributions
through Satar, whose diplomatic passport reduced the risk of his bags being
searched, Murphy testified.
Grilled by the feds on March 4,
2003, Maflahi, 30, denied helping Satar with his fund- raising activities.
