Saudi grad student cleared of terror charges in Idaho

BOISE, Idaho -- Handing the government a stinging defeat in its war on terror, a jury acquitted a Saudi graduate student yesterday of charges that he used his computer expertise to help Muslim terrorists raise money and recruit followers.

"I hope the message is that the First Amendment is important and meaningful in this country," said David Nevin, defense lawyer for Sami Omar Al-Hussayen.

The case against Hussayen, a 34-year-old doctoral candidate in computer science at the University of Idaho, was seen as an important test of a provision of the Patriot Act that makes it a crime to provide assistance to terrorists.

Hussayen set up and ran websites that prosecutors said were used to recruit terrorists, raise money, and disseminate inflammatory rhetoric.

They said the sites included religious edicts justifying suicide bombings and an invitation to contribute money to Hamas, a Palestinian militant group.

Hussayen's lawyers said he had little to do with the creation of the material that had been posted. They said the material was protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of expression and was not designed to raise money or recruit extremists.

"There was a lack of hard evidence," juror John Steger said.

"There was no clear-cut evidence that said he was a terrorist, so it was all on inference."

Hussayen was acquitted of all three charges of terrorism, as well as a count of making a false statement and two counts of visa fraud.

Jurors could not reach verdicts on three other false-statement counts and five other visa-fraud counts, and a mistrial was declared on those charges.

US Attorney Tom Moss said it would be a week before a decision is made on whether to retry Hussayen on the counts on which the jury was deadlocked.

Hussayen faced up to 15 years for each of the three terrorism charges, 25 years on each visa-fraud charge and five years on each false-statement charge.

He still faces deportation and will remain in custody until the government decides what to do next.

Moss rejected any suggestion that the verdict would stifle the government's pursuit of terrorism supporters.

"You don't just need people who will strap on bombs and walk into crowds," he said. "You need people to support them. For terrorism to flourish, they have to have a communications network. This was a case as prosecutors we're expected to pursue."

Justice Department officials in Washington declined to comment on the verdict.

The jury reached its verdict after seven days of deliberations, and a trial that lasted seven weeks.

The bearded, bespectacled Hussayen had seemed confident throughout the day but had no visible reaction as the verdicts were read.

Hussayen, a member of a prominent family from Riyadh, has been jailed since his February 2003 arrest, continuing to work toward his doctorate from his cell. His wife and children returned to Saudi Arabia earlier this year rather than fight deportation.

John Dickinson, a professor who served as Hussayen's academic adviser, said he hopes the acquittal "puts an end to a long and terrible aspect of Sami's life, and I hope he will be reunited with his wife and three children."

It was not the first time the government has lost a court battle over the Patriot Act provision. In January, a federal judge in California ruled that the provision violates people's First and Fifth Amendment rights.