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Mosque leaders sentenced in terror sting

Mar 8, 2007 1:45 pm By Robert Spencer

“I don’t know why I’m guilty.” One might think that agreeing “to launder $50,000 from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile from China that would be used to kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York City” would give him a clue about why.

By Michael Hill for Associated Press, with thanks for all who sent this in:

ALBANY, N.Y. – Two leaders of an Albany mosque who were snared in an FBI sting involving a fictional terror strike were sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison.

The former imam, Yassin Aref, professed innocence before his sentencing and criticized the government’s treatment of Muslims.

“I never had any intention to harm anyone in this country,” said Aref, a 36-year-old Kurdish refugee. “And I don’t know why I’m guilty.”

Pizzeria owner Mohammed Hossain, a founder of the Masjid As-Salam mosque, said in a voice choked with emotion that he knew nothing about bombs and terrorism.

“I do not know why it was me who was chosen. I was not a criminal,” he said. “I was not even thinking of committing a crime.”

The two were convicted in October for their roles in a money laundering scheme involving an FBI informant who posed as an illegal arms dealer.

The informant asked Hossain to launder $50,000 from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile from China that would be used to kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York City, authorities said.

The informant said he needed to conceal the source of the income and asked Hossain to take the money and return it through a series of $2,000 checks, according to court documents. Authorities said Hossain agreed to issue checks from his businesses and planned to keep $5,000 for laundering the money.

Aref, spiritual leader of Hossain’s mosque, acted as a witness to the transactions.

Though the assassination plot was fictional, prosecutors in 2004 accused the pair of supporting terrorism.

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