Alamoudi was one of the highest-profile “moderates” in the country. This article suggests that the main thing he was doing was trying to topple the House of Saud. That doesn’t seem like criminal activity to me — unless he was doing it so that an even more virulent regime could take its place. Questions linger. From the New York Times, with thanks to Steve:
WASHINGTON, July 29 – Abdurahman Alamoudi, a prominent American Muslim leader implicated in an alleged plot by the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, to assassinate the leader of Saudi Arabia, has acknowledged his role in the plot and agreed to plead guilty to having illegal business dealings with Libya, officials said Thursday.
Mr. Alamoudi, who is president of the American Muslim Foundation and has had access to senior officials in the Bush and Clinton administrations over the years, is expected to enter his guilty plea on Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., his lawyers said. He faces a maximum of 23 years in prison, but his sentence could be reduced significantly because he has cooperated extensively with the American authorities in some 100 hours of interviews about his Libyan dealings, officials said.
The plea agreement lays out extensive new details about the Libyan plot, including Mr. Alamoudi’s recruitment by Libyan intelligence officials last year as an intermediary who funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-Saudi dissidents in London and elsewhere, officials said. A classified version also identifies Libyan officials thought to have acted at the behest of Colonel Qaddafi in seeking to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, said officials familiar with the report….
Mr. Alamoudi has been criticized by some outside groups for what they saw as virulently anti-Israeli rhetoric, but embraced by many Muslims for the political inroads he has made among high-level American officials. Even now, he appears to have significant support among American Muslims, including dozens who have packed the Alexandria courtroom.
“The people who know Abdurahman are definitely behind him under all circumstances,” said Ashraf Nubani, a Washington-area lawyer who is a close friend of Mr. Alamoudi’s. “There’s no doubt that this was a selective prosecution. That doesn’t excuse what people may or may not have done, whether it was Abdurahman Alamoudi or anyone else, but Muslims are being targeted by law enforcement all levels of society.”
Targeted? Well, is he guilty or not?