bobdina
10-21-2009, 10:38 AM
By John Seewer - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Oct 20, 2009 19:56:54 EDT
TOLEDO, Ohio — One of three men convicted of plotting to recruit and train terrorists to kill American soldiers in Iraq told a federal judge Tuesday that prosecutors twisted his words and wrongly painted him as a terrorist.
Mohammad Amawi said he was targeted because he spoke out against the war in Iraq.
“Yes, I said of lot of things,” he said during his sentencing hearing in Ohio. “But when did I do something?”
Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to give Amawi a life sentence. He and two other men of Middle Eastern descent met in Toledo about five years ago and began plans to help insurgents in Iraq, prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge James Carr will announce his sentence Wednesday.
A second man, Marwan El-Hindi, is scheduled to begin his sentencing hearing Wednesday. He and Wassim Mazloum also face up to life prison.
Lawyers for all three say the men were manipulated by an undercover FBI informant who recorded the men for about two years beginning in 2004 while they talked about training in explosives, guns, and sniper tactics.
Amawi, 29, said that the informant was the one who suggested the men carry out the plot and took them to a shooting range.
“They’re the ones that put a real gun in my hand,” he said in his first public statements since his arrest more than three years ago.
He said the informant lied when he said that Amawi was contemplating traveling to Iraq to become a martyr. “I’m against suicide bombing,” he said. “I made this very clear.”
A former soldier, Darren Griffin, was the key witness against the three men at their trial in 2007, testifying he won their trust by posing as a disgruntled soldier who converted to Islam. He secretly recorded his conversations with the men for about two years until they were arrested.
Amawi did tell the informant in a recording from October 2004 that “killing Americans in Iraq is OK.”
Justice Department attorney Gregg Sofer said Amawi made plans on his own to learn how to make explosives and weapons and that he had a library of instructional videos that he downloaded from the Internet.
“He was very eager to learn how to make a bomb,” Sofer said. “He wanted to kill as many American soldiers as he could.”
Prosecutors said the fact that the men watched bomb making videos, expressed support for suicide bombers and talked about learning to shoot guns showed what they had planned.
But defense attorneys noted the men never carried out any attacks and that Amawi never bought any supplies to make bombs or weapons during the two years he met with the informant.
“This man is not a threat,” said defense attorney Timothy Ivey. “When he got a chance to go to Iraq, he didn’t.”
All three men are U.S. citizens, except Mazloum, who came to the U.S. legally from Lebanon. El-Hindi was born in Jordan. Amawi was born in the U.S. but also has Jordanian citizenship.
They had moved to the Toledo area only in recent years and blended easily into the city’s thriving Muslim community. The three and the informant often met in their homes and at a tiny storefront mosque where they prayed together.
Griffin said most people at the mosque shunned him and that no one raised any threats until El-Hindi began talking about kidnapping Israeli soldiers. Amawi, Griffin said, asked him to help him train recruits for holy war
Posted : Tuesday Oct 20, 2009 19:56:54 EDT
TOLEDO, Ohio — One of three men convicted of plotting to recruit and train terrorists to kill American soldiers in Iraq told a federal judge Tuesday that prosecutors twisted his words and wrongly painted him as a terrorist.
Mohammad Amawi said he was targeted because he spoke out against the war in Iraq.
“Yes, I said of lot of things,” he said during his sentencing hearing in Ohio. “But when did I do something?”
Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to give Amawi a life sentence. He and two other men of Middle Eastern descent met in Toledo about five years ago and began plans to help insurgents in Iraq, prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge James Carr will announce his sentence Wednesday.
A second man, Marwan El-Hindi, is scheduled to begin his sentencing hearing Wednesday. He and Wassim Mazloum also face up to life prison.
Lawyers for all three say the men were manipulated by an undercover FBI informant who recorded the men for about two years beginning in 2004 while they talked about training in explosives, guns, and sniper tactics.
Amawi, 29, said that the informant was the one who suggested the men carry out the plot and took them to a shooting range.
“They’re the ones that put a real gun in my hand,” he said in his first public statements since his arrest more than three years ago.
He said the informant lied when he said that Amawi was contemplating traveling to Iraq to become a martyr. “I’m against suicide bombing,” he said. “I made this very clear.”
A former soldier, Darren Griffin, was the key witness against the three men at their trial in 2007, testifying he won their trust by posing as a disgruntled soldier who converted to Islam. He secretly recorded his conversations with the men for about two years until they were arrested.
Amawi did tell the informant in a recording from October 2004 that “killing Americans in Iraq is OK.”
Justice Department attorney Gregg Sofer said Amawi made plans on his own to learn how to make explosives and weapons and that he had a library of instructional videos that he downloaded from the Internet.
“He was very eager to learn how to make a bomb,” Sofer said. “He wanted to kill as many American soldiers as he could.”
Prosecutors said the fact that the men watched bomb making videos, expressed support for suicide bombers and talked about learning to shoot guns showed what they had planned.
But defense attorneys noted the men never carried out any attacks and that Amawi never bought any supplies to make bombs or weapons during the two years he met with the informant.
“This man is not a threat,” said defense attorney Timothy Ivey. “When he got a chance to go to Iraq, he didn’t.”
All three men are U.S. citizens, except Mazloum, who came to the U.S. legally from Lebanon. El-Hindi was born in Jordan. Amawi was born in the U.S. but also has Jordanian citizenship.
They had moved to the Toledo area only in recent years and blended easily into the city’s thriving Muslim community. The three and the informant often met in their homes and at a tiny storefront mosque where they prayed together.
Griffin said most people at the mosque shunned him and that no one raised any threats until El-Hindi began talking about kidnapping Israeli soldiers. Amawi, Griffin said, asked him to help him train recruits for holy war