This episode we talk about the FBI in relation to the Aref-Hossain case—not about what they did before and during it, but afterwards. And what we did in response. But before we go back in history, it’s worth mentioning that two of the FBI players are not only still with us today, but are front and center in the news. We’ve had experience with James…

The attorneys for both Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain (Yassin’s co-defendant) prepared appeals to the 2nd Circuit Court. At the same time, the Muslim Solidarity Committee organized a march and rally—the first one—and have marked the anniversary of their arrests (August 4) every year since 2007. We discuss "who is a terrorist." Kathy Manley review…

In this episode we will hear directly from Yassin about what life is like in the brutal CMU - Communications Management Unit prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. While we were finding out more and more about this possibly illegal prison unit at Terre Haute from Yassin, the attorneys for both Yassin and Mohammed (Yassin’s co-defendant) were preparing app…

The last episode covered Sentencing Day, March 8, 2007 and brought you readings of support letters and editorials from community members, newspapers, and the defendants themselves. All were trying to get the judge to give Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain lenient sentences, instead of the 30 years to life that was recommended by federal guidelines. …

In the last episode we talked about all the community activity on behalf of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain between their guilty verdicts on October 10, 2006 and their sentencing, which was rescheduled to March 8, 2007. In this episode we’ll focus on sentencing day, March 8, and we’ll hear the opinions on the whole case, from community members, to…

This is the third and final episode of our mini-series of The Trial of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, who were caught up in an FBI sting operation from 2003-2004. Their trial was in October 2006. We will discuss the verdict and all that came after it. Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain received a great deal of support from the Albany community, in…

This is the second episode of our three-part mini-series of The Trial of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, who were caught up in an FBI sting operation from 2003-2004. Last time we covered the prosecution’s case, now it’s the defense’s turn. We talk about the judge’s targeting instruction. The judge said there were “good and valid reasons” to targe…

We begin a three-part mini series on the trial of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain. In this first episode of the mini-series, we present the prosecution’s case. We read from trial transcripts and describe how the prosecution alarmed the jury by having a witness point a (disabled) missile at them, and read testimony of a government “expert” who knew…

The crucial aspect of the Aref-Hossain case, in order to convict Yassin, was to prove he was “predisposed” to commit terrorism, and so the government had to submit “evidence” to this effect - the government wanted to prove that Yassin had the “ideology". The government did this by presenting certain deliberate mistranslations and innuendo from Yass…

In this episode, we talk about the immigrant experience of Yassin Aref, and how this encouraged the government to pursue him. For the second half we’ll focus on a particular (and legal) harassment tactic, as used by the government in the war on terror, called a superseding indictment, and how it was used to further the case against Aref and Hossain…

Classified evidence was used extensively during the trial of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain. Kathy Manley, one of Yassin’s attorneys, tells the story of the classified evidence in the case, the defense's unsuccessful fight to obtain it, and a secret court decision in violation of the Sixth Amendment.…

Snipers were posted on the roof of the court house for the bail hearing for Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain. In this episode, details of the bail hearing are discussed, as well as the general atmosphere of the times. The two lawyers and two activists set the scene for the events surrounding the bail hearing; the war fever in 2004; and the adventur…

On August 4, 2004, two Muslim men in Albany, New York, were arrested by the FBI for a terror plot. Did the FBI really arrest a terrorist "Commander" from Iraq? Or, a medi-cab driver who was also the spiritual leader of an inner-city mosque? Two lawyers and two activists will describe the FBI raid on the mosque and begin the story of what happened t…