Author: Brendan Lyons
Publication: Times Union
Date: March 22, 2006
URL: http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=463479&category=REGIONOTHER&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=3/22/2006&TextPage=1
Court documents portray alleged connections
between local Muslim leader and violent extremists in Middle East
The spiritual leader of an Albany mosque repeatedly
called a phone number in Syria that an FBI report indicates had been used
to gather terrorist intelligence for Osama bin Laden, according to classified
documents unsealed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
The FBI report, which was based on information
from a confidential informant, was among several once-secret documents that
federal authorities say raise questions about Yassin Aref's connections to
terrorist organizations across the Middle East.
Aref, 35, a Kurdish refugee who moved to Albany
with his family in 1999, is in jail without bond while awaiting trial on charges
related to an FBI counterterrorism sting. He has denied any connections to
terrorism.
But federal authorities paint him as an intelligent
religious scholar with strong ties to some of the world's most notorious terrorists,
including Mullah Krekar, the founder of a violent Iraqi terrorist organization
with ties to al-Qaida.
The FBI report on bin Laden is undated and
heavily redacted. It states that an informant told the FBI that during October
2001 he was approached by someone soliciting intelligence about "flight
training schools, access to airports in (redacted)" and information about
"how close the individual could get to an aircraft."
The informant said he was instructed that
any information could be distributed to "brothers" through two phone
numbers in Damascus, Syria. One of the numbers was called repeatedly by Aref
from his Albany home, according to federal authorities.
Aref's attorney, Terence L. Kindlon, said
the information is "meaningless" because the number appears to have
been the headquarters for Islamic Movement for Kurdistan (IMK), which had
an office in Damascus where Aref once worked after fleeing Iraq.
"He called IMK all the time," Kindlon
said. "He had friends there, guys he went to college with."
Still, federal authorities are using the information
to bolster their allegations that Aref lied on his visa application about
whether he had any ties to political groups. The immigration violation --
for allegedly lying on his residency application -- was added to the counterterrorism
charges for federal authorities to be able to introduce Aref's overseas' ties
into the case.
"Aref kept his IMK affiliation hidden
and secret, specifically omitting any reference to the IMK in his 1999 refugee
application," according to a memorandum filed by the Justice Department.
"Aref has had contacts with terrorists and discussions about terrorist
acts."
In addition to the alleged connection to Osama
bin Laden's terror network, documents released Tuesday indicate that Aref's
name, Albany address and telephone number were found in several suspected
terrorist strongholds during the war in Iraq.
One of the facilities was raided in March
2003 and had been occupied by Krekar's group, Ansar al-Islam. U.S. forces
discovered evidence that terror groups had tried to produce deadly toxins
there, according to a government report.
More information was also released by the
government Tuesday about a suspected terrorist camp in that was bombed by
coalition forces in June 2003. The unclassified records indicate the camp
had been occupied by heavily-armed Ansar al-Islam members carrying various
military manuals.
A notebook found in the camp contained Aref's
name and Albany address, along with Krekar's contact information in Europe,
according to the report.
Kindlon again downplayed the significance.
"Just because you find somebody's name
someplace, it doesn't mean anything at all," Kindlon said. "It's
where he's from. This is a guy who used to speak to thousands of people at
the same time. ... He was a (religious) prodigy. The fact that his name exists
in different places throughout the country of his birth means nothing."
It's routine for government prosecutors to
release criminal history reports of people they intend to call as witnesses
at trial.
Other records unsealed by the government included
criminal history reports for two men, one on a terrorist watch list, who had
attended the Masjid As Salam mosque on Central Avenue where Aref is the spiritual
leader.
One of the men, a 26-year-old ex-convict named
John Earl Johnson, was arrested by Albany police in December 2001 as he exited
the mosque carrying a rifle. A year later, Johnson was arrested again while
driving on the New York State Thruway in Herkimer in a van that authorities
say was loaded with weapons and computer discs containing terrorism-related
manuals.
The manuals included information on how to
make fertilizer bombs, nitroglycerine, cyanide, chorine gas and letter bombs.
Johnson, who has served at least two prison
terms, was also arrested in Afghanistan in March 2000 carrying similar computer
discs, according to the FBI report and law enforcement sources.
The other individual whose criminal history
was released by the FBI Tuesday is Ali Mounnes Yaghi, a former pizza shop
worker who helped establish the Central Avenue mosque and took part in hiring
Aref there. Yaghi is now on a terrorism watch list, according to the records.
Yaghi, who was deported to his native Jordan
in July 2002, was jailed as a federal detainee for almost a year after the
Sept. 11 attacks as the FBI investigated whether he or any of his acquaintances
had connections to terrorist cells or attacks on the World Trade Center.
FBI agents said Yaghi failed a polygraph examination
during an interrogation in which he was shown photographs of the 19 hijackers
and asked whether he knew any of them. But Yaghi was never connected to any
terrorist plot before being deported.
However, according to a source close to Aref's
case, Yaghi contacted the FBI after Aref's arrest and pledged to cooperate
in the current investigation.
The new information provides more details
about why the FBI launched a sting three years ago targeting Aref.
Aref and Mohammed Hossain, an Albany pizza
shop owner and co-founder of the mosque, were ensnared in an FBI sting and
accused of taking part in a plot to make money from the sale of missile launchers
to terrorists. The plot was not real and was created by the FBI, which used
an informant to allegedly lure the men into the deal.
Officials have not accused Hossain of being
connected to any terrorist groups. He is free on bond, as both men await trial.
Brenda Lyons can be reached at 454-5547 or
by e-mail at blyons@timesunion.com.
