Yemeni sheikh in US jailed for ‘Qaeda support’

A federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday sentenced a Yemeni sheikh to 75 years in prison, with a $1.25 million fine, for conspiring to suppor...

A federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday sentenced a Yemeni sheikh to 75 years in prison, with a $1.25 million fine, for conspiring to support and fund Al Qaeda and Hamas.

Prosecutor Kelly Moore said during the trial that Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad (56) had ties to Osama bin Laden, and had bragged about having ‘‘taught him about Islamic law’’.

The sheikh was arrested in Germany in 2003 after he told a federal agent, posing as an American businessman, that he would help him funnel money to militants. He was extradited to the United States. On March 10, after a five-week trial, a federal jury found al-Moayad and his aide, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed (31), guilty of conspiring to provide material support and resources to Al Qaeda between October 1999 and January 2003, and to Hamas between October 1997 and January 2003.

Zayed’s sentencing was delayed until September.

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During sentencing, al-Moayad insisted, ‘‘I have not done anything against the American people and I have no intention of doing anything against the American people.’’

‘‘The American people are the flag of freedom,’’ he said.‘‘With God as my witness, I did not support Hamas.’’

However, four days of videotaped meetings between the defendants and FBI undercover agents in January 2003 formed evidence said by Judge Sterling Johnson to be ‘‘chilling’’. Prosecutors had argued the pair were involved in a long-running effort to funnel cash to the extremist groups. —Reuters