ALBANY - Albany's Common Council is expected to take up the case of two local Muslims convicted of terror-related charges four years ago.
The latest effort to support
Mohammed Hossain and
Yassin Aref took place at City Hall on Monday. The two men were caught up and convicted in an FBI terror sting back in 2006.
Pizza shop owner Mohammed Hossain had been in the U.S. for about twenty years. Islamic spiritual leader Yassin Aref a much shorter time after immigrating from Kurdish--controlled Northern Iraq.
Neither man had drawn the attention of law enforcement before an Albany telephone number was discovered in Iraq. That led the FBI to investigate the two men using a informant in a money laundering scheme tied to a fictional handheld rocket launcher.
Laws protecting national security were used to limit access to evidence in the case. Even defense attorneys were denied full knowledge. Both men were convicted and are serving federal prison terms. Supporters have remained convinced Hossain and Aref were not treated fairly.
"When it comes to these particular cases where people are entrapped," says rally leader Lynne Jackson, "then you have to wonder what the government is doing."
Albany Councilman Dominick Calsolaro is introducing a resolution urging the U.S. Justice Department review the convictions of Muslims like Aref and Hossain. Calsolaro considers them "preemptively prosecuted"
"There's a possibility you may do something wrong, so we're prosecuting you before you even can do something wrong and that's totally against what our country is based on," says Calsolaro.
Supporters of other men convicted using methods that have been questioned also showed up at the rally. A common bond-- they're all Muslim.
Councilman Calsolaro has six co-sponsors for his resolution. It takes eight votes to pass. Calsolaro thinks it could be passed the same night that it is introduced.
