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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 9 august 2023

A judge called an FBI operative a 'villain.' Ruling comes too late

for 2 convicted in terror sting

penurious petty criminals" imported from China, to a
who had no connection to group that wanted to kill a
any terrorist group and had Pakistani diplomat in New
“never remotely contem- York City.
plated” violent extremism Hossain later said he
before they met Hussain. thought the talk about an
The ruling resonated with attack was a joke and that
defendants and attorneys the missile he was shown
in a case Hussain helped was a plumbing supply. For
build in 2004 against two religious reasons, he asked
men involved with an Al- his imam, Aref, to witness
bany mosque, Aref and the business transaction,
former pizza shop owner much like a notary.
Mohammed Hossain. Aref and Hossain, now free
Former pizza shop owner Mohammed Hossain, who was arrested Posing as a successful busi- after serving long prison
by federal authorities in 2004 as part of a counter-terrorism sting nessman, Hussain befriend- terms for money launder-
and sentenced to 15 years in jail, talks about his time in prison
and the rehabbing work he is doing on his rental property, ed Hossain, eventually of- ing concealing material
Monday, July 31, 2023, in Albany, N.Y. fering to lend him $50,000 support for an attack with
(AP Photo/Hans Pennink) for his struggling business. a weapon of mass destruc- Mohammed Hossain,
But he also told the pizza tion and giving material foreground, is escorted out of
By Michael Hill he once testified— in his parlor owner the money support to a terrorist orga- the Federal Building by a U.S.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — In a native Pakistan. He settled would come from the sale nization, say they were Federal Marshal, Tuesday,
scathing ruling last month, in the Albany area and of a shoulder-fired missile, innocent.q Aug. 24, 2004, in Albany, N.Y.
(AP Photo/Jim McKnight, FILE)
a judge said the FBI had was working as a transla-
used a ”villain” of an in- tor when he got caught
formant to manipulate a helping someone get their
group of Muslim men into driver’s license illegally.
going along with a ficti- In exchange for leniency,
tious plot to destroy military he started working for the
planes and synagogues FBI.
in New York City's suburbs. American law enforce-
She ordered three released ment at the time was on
from prison, saying “the a massive hunt for terrorist
real lead conspirator was “sleeper cells” planning at-
the United States." tacks on U.S. soil. Hussain
Now, a man convicted in worked with the FBI to ap-
another sting carried out proach people suspected
by the same FBI operative of being sympathetic to
says he hopes the ruling Islamic militant groups and
will prompt U.S. prosecu- see if they could be talked
tors to review the fairness into an illegal act.
of similar counterterrorism One target was a group of
operations carried out in four men from Newburgh,
the wake of the 9/11 terror New York, who were arrest-
attacks. ed in 2009, convicted of
“Hopefully this will be the plotting deadly antisemitic
first step for the Justice attacks and sentenced to
Department to review all 25 years in prison.
those cases of conspiracy Courts have upheld their
and entrapment," said Yas- convictions, finding they
sin Aref, a former imam knowingly became eager
who spent 14 years in fed- participants in a plot to
eral custody in a case in- plant explosives at a Bronx
volving a business loan synagogue. But when
made to an Albany pizza three of the four applied
shop owner and a made- for compassionate release,
up story about a Stinger U.S. District Judge Colleen
missile. McMahon granted the re-
Aref and the shop owner quest, saying the FBI had
were arrested in 2004 in one sent a master manipulator
of several FBI stings carried “to troll among the poor-
out by a paid civilian oper- est and weakest of men for
ative named Shahed Hus- ‘terrorists’ who might prove
sain, whose work has been susceptible to an offer of
criticized for years by civil much-needed cash in ex-
liberties groups. change for committing a
Hussain entered the U.S. faux crime.”
with his wife and two sons in In a ruling July 28, McMa-
the 1990s after he was ac- hon called them “hapless,
cused of murder — falsely, easily manipulated and