There are many lingering questions about the prosecution of Idaho grad student Sami Omar Al-Hussayen for ties to terror groups, but evidently they will not be answered: he is to be deported. From AP, with thanks to EPG:
BOISE, Idaho (AP) – The government agreed Wednesday to throw out all remaining charges against a Saudi graduate student whose terrorism case was seen as an important clash between free speech and the war on terror.
The government agreed to dismiss the immigration charges against Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, 34, in return for his dropping an appeal of a deportation order.
“He’s going back to Saudi Arabia,” defense attorney David Nevin said. “This long ordeal has come to a close.”
Al-Hussayen was acquitted in early June of using his computer skills to support terrorism, along with three other immigration violations. But the jury deadlocked on eight additional charges – all of which were dropped Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Al-Hussayen set up and ran Web sites that were used to recruit terrorists, raise money and disseminate inflammatory rhetoric.
But the defense claimed Al-Hussayen, a father of three and a devoted Muslim, was only volunteering his ability to maintain Web sites that were promoting Islam. Any radical material on the sites did not reflect Al-Hussayen’s views and was protected by the Constitution, Nevin said.