Hi there,

In coming days Democracy Now! will continue to bring you post-election results and in-depth analysis on on the impact of the coming Trump administration. Because Democracy Now! does not accept corporate advertising or sponsorship revenue, we rely on viewers like you to feature voices and analysis you won’t get anywhere else. Can you donate $15 to Democracy Now! today to support our post-election coverage? Right now, a generous donor will DOUBLE your gift, which means your $15 donation is worth $30. Please help us air in-depth, substantive coverage of the outcome of the election and what it means for our collective future. Thank you so much! Every dollar makes a difference.

-Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Saudi Webmaster Innocent on Terrorism Charges

HeadlineJun 15, 2004

Ashcroft’s announcement also came just days after the Justice Department was a dealt a major defeat in Idaho where a jury found a Saudi graduate student innocent on a number of terrorism charges. The student, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, worked as a webmaster for several Islamic websites including some that advocated suicide bombings in Israel and Chechnya. His lawyer said his client does not hold those views and should not be held criminally liable for what others wrote. He was charged under the Patriot Act with providing '’expert guidance or assistance'’ to groups deemed terrorist. Washington civil liberties attorney David Cole said the provision of the Patriot Act is so vague that somebody who fixes a fax machine that is owned by a group that may advocate terrorism could be charged with a crime. In the year before Al-Hussayen was arrested the government closely tracked him by intercepting 29,000 emails and phone calls. Then he was arrested and thrown in solitary confinement. He remains detained on immigration charges.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top