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Islamonline.com – August 1, 2004 US Muslims 'furious, fearful' after Amoudi’s admission By Mustafa Abd ElHaleem CAIRO – American Muslims reacted with mixed fear and anger after prominent activist Abdel-Rahman Al-Amoudi had pleaded guilty before US investigators to the involvement in a Libyan plot to assassinate the Saudi Crown Prince. Muslim activists expected the seven million community members could also feel the pinch of the Friday admission, given the heavyweight status Amoudi had enjoyed partially due to his links with ruling administrations. "Amoudi appeared to me and many other Muslims a passionate and emotionally excitable man with honest impressive history," a Washington-based Muslim activist, told IslamOnline.net over the phone Saturday, July 31, but asked not to be named. "Now I feel betrayed, shocked by reports of his pleading guilty," he said. Amoudi, the founder of the American Muslim Council and president of the American Muslim Federation, admitted Friday, July 30, to being involved in a Libyan plot to assassinate Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz and illegally visiting and making financial transactions with Tripoli. "He feels a great deal of remorse, pain, and that [the case] will do a great deal of disservice to the community here," his lawyer, Stanley Cohen, told IOL. Cohen said Amoudi faces a hard time in prison and fears that his case might be misused to target the Muslim community. The US Justice Department said in a statement that Amoudi agreed to plead guilty to three criminal violations "relating to his activities in the United States and abroad with nations and organizations that have ties to terrorism and his participation in a plot to assassinate an ally in the war against terror". The charges were unlicensed travel to and commerce with Libya, making false statements on an immigration form and tax offenses designed to conceal his transactions with Libya from the US Internal Revenue Service, it added. Amoudi had earlier dismissed charges against him as "politically motivated" fabrications. Salama Al-Miryati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said anti-Muslim groups in the United States could misuse Amoudi’s case. "Anti-Muslim groups will definitely take this to their own purpose," Miryati told IOL over phone. Miryati warned that American Muslim organizations could be affected by the arrest of such a prominent activist. He called on them to depend on funds donated by American Muslims and abandon finances from abroad to cast away doubts. Miryati also expected the flood of reports on Amoudi’s case to stoke up hate crimes against Muslims, which are already growing since the 9/11 attacks. Since 9/11, American Muslims complained about a mounting backlash including death threats, physical and verbal assaults, hate mails, arsons and vandalism of mosques, Islamic schools and cultural centers. Muslims in the United States have been exposed to more than 1,000 incidents of violence, discrimination, profiling, or harassment during 2003, according to a report released last May by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). According to the Justice Department statement, Amoudi made at least 10 trips to Libya and met with government officials there. During one such meeting in March 2003 they discussed creating "headaches and disruptions" in Saudi Arabia. "As the scheme continued, however, Amoudi learned that the actual objective of the scheme was the assassination of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah," the statement said. The cooperation agreement with US prosecutors will allow Amoudi to get reduced sentence on the remaining charges, which carry 23 years in jail. "He is cooperating candidly with the US investigators, this is the agreement, in exchange for reduced term consideration," said Cohen. Cohen said charges against Amoudi were reduced from 34 to only three. The lawyer denied pressures on Amoudi to make the deal or submit the confession, saying: "pressures were from his own". "There is absolute evidence against him, so there is no legal defense," he added, refusing to expect how many years the sentence would be reduced. "There was just a promise." http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-08/01/article03.shtml USA Today – July 30, 2004 Muslim activist pleads guilty to illegal Libyan transactions ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A prominent U.S. Muslim activist who said he participated in a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's crown prince pleaded guilty Friday (7/30/2004) to unrelated illegal business deals with Libya. Abdurahman Alamoudi, 52, pleaded guilty to engaging in prohibited transactions with a foreign country, unlawful procurement of citizenship and impeding administration of the Internal Revenue Service. Sentencing was set for Oct. 15 in U.S. District Court. Alamoudi faces up to 23 years in prison. Alamoudi, a founder of the American Muslim Council and related American Muslim Foundation, has said he participated in an assassination plot by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi against Crown Prince Abdullah but was never charged. No such plot was carried out. Friday's guilty plea was unrelated to the alleged scheme, but court documents indicate that his punishment will be increased because he intended to participate in a murder plot related to terrorism. A 20-page statement of facts contained in the plea agreement outlines the plot and Alamoudi's participation in it. His lawyer, Stanley Cohen, said the government conceded that Alamoudi's role was "minimal" and he was unaware of much of the conspiracy. Libyan government officials told Alamoudi in March 2003 that Gaddafi was upset at the way he was treated by the crown prince and wanted to punish the Saudis, according to the statement of facts to which Alamoudi agreed. Alamoudi was initially indicted on 18 counts last year, and more charges were added in March. Prosecutors say he violated U.S. sanctions against Libya in August 2003 when he received $340,000 in sequential U.S. currency from a group called the World Islamic Call Society, which the indictment says is controlled by the Libyan government. The indictment also alleges that he sought to launder the money and that he made false statements to federal agents, including concealment of his affiliation with Mousa Abu Marzook, a leader of the militant group Hamas, which the government has designated a terrorist organization. He was accused of helping to prepare a false tax return, trying to impede investigation of IRS laws and lying on a tax return. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-07-30-activist-guilty_x.htm?csp=34 |