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Hearing Set for N.Y. Terror Suspects
Tuesday, October 8, 2002
By Ben Dobbin
Associated Press Writer

If the men are granted bail, U.S. Attorney Michael Battle warned, "it can be reasonably concluded that the defendants ... would undertake the desperate, violent and ultimate acts called for in their training" at an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan in spring 2001.



Defense lawyers say the men, who were arrested days after the Sept. 11 anniversary, are victims of misinformation who pose no danger and won't flee. The families of Galab, 26, Taher, 25, Shafal Mosed, 24, Yahya Goba, 25, Sahim Alwan, 29, and Mukhtar al-Bakri, 22, have pledged more than $2 million worth of property to guarantee they attend their trial.



LACKAWANNA, N.Y. -- AP
Yasein Taher was voted "friendliest" senior at Lackawanna High School in 1996. Faysal Galab, in his lawyer's words, "is a loyal American who loves his country."

Both men are among six Americans of Yemeni descent accused of participating in an al-Qaida sleeper cell awaiting orders from Osama bin Laden's terror network to carry out an assault within U.S. borders.

U.S. Magistrate H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. must now decide which portrait of the men to believe at their bail hearing scheduled Tuesday: federal prosecutors who want the six behind bars or defense attorneys who argue they are no threat.

"It's not a black-and-white situation, it's not a no-brainer," Schroeder said in court last week.
(More: The Tuscaloosa News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

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