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Lodi man faces terrorist charges
A 23-year-old Lodi man already facing charges for lying to FBI agents was indicted Thursday on a charge of providing material support to a terrorist organization.
Hamid Hayat, one of five Lodi men arrested in early June during a terrorism investigation in the city, is the first one to face criminal charges of terrorism.
The charge carries a penalty of 15 years in prison. Combined with two counts of lying to investigators, Hayat faces a maximum sentence of 31 years in prison.
A federal grand jury also charged Hayat’s father, Umer Hayat, 47, with one count of lying to FBI agents. The charge carries a possible eight-year prison sentence.
“These allegations are nothing new; they’re just relabled as terrorist charges,” defense attorney Johnny L. Griffin III, who represents Umer Hayat, said later Thursday.
Defense attorneys visited the Hayats in the Sacramento County Jail after Thursday’s announcement, and both were disappointed to hear of the new charge against Hamid Hayat, Griffin said. Umer Hayat was “pleased” that he faced no new charges, and Hamid Hayat is still determined to fight his case, Griffin added.
Hamid Hayat, one of five Lodi men arrested in early June during a terrorism investigation in the city, is the first one to face criminal charges of terrorism.
The charge carries a penalty of 15 years in prison. Combined with two counts of lying to investigators, Hayat faces a maximum sentence of 31 years in prison.
A federal grand jury also charged Hayat’s father, Umer Hayat, 47, with one count of lying to FBI agents. The charge carries a possible eight-year prison sentence.
“These allegations are nothing new; they’re just relabled as terrorist charges,” defense attorney Johnny L. Griffin III, who represents Umer Hayat, said later Thursday.
Defense attorneys visited the Hayats in the Sacramento County Jail after Thursday’s announcement, and both were disappointed to hear of the new charge against Hamid Hayat, Griffin said. Umer Hayat was “pleased” that he faced no new charges, and Hamid Hayat is still determined to fight his case, Griffin added.
More
http://www.tracypress.com/local/2005-09-23-hayat.php
"They're just relabeling it. It's really the same evidence" that prompted the old lying and the new material support charge, said Hamid Hayat's attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi. She said prosecutors have still offered no concrete evidence that her client attended the camp.
Umer Hayat's attorney, Johnny Griffin III, said he was "extremely pleased" his client wasn't charged with any additional crime.
Prosecutors said last month that secret tape recordings by an informant add to evidence that Hamid Hayat attended a Pakistani terror training camp and trained for holy war.
The witness recorded the younger man in March and April 2003 when he was in the United States and again after Hayat arrived in Pakistan in April.
Griffin said he believes the witness was an undercover government agent who grew so close to the Hayats that he spent nights in their home. Griffin said the unnamed witness asked leading questions of his client's son.
Prosecutors said Hamid Hayat told the witness that he had been accepted at a camp that provided training in weapons and explosives and hand-to-hand combat.
They said that after failing a lie detector test upon his return, Hayat admitted in a videotaped interview that he attended one camp for three days in 2000 and a second for three to six months in 2003 and 2004, describing the location and layout of the second camp.
The younger man admitted during the videotaped interrogation that he "intended to commit jihad in the U.S. He did not have any orders to fight at present; however, he was awaiting such orders," prosecutors said.
Both Hayats have pleaded not guilty in Sacramento federal court and are being held without bond, though a bail hearing was set for Friday. The men are scheduled to be arraigned on new charges then.
More
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/22/state/n141903D27.DTL
http://www.tracypress.com/local/2005-09-23-hayat.php
"They're just relabeling it. It's really the same evidence" that prompted the old lying and the new material support charge, said Hamid Hayat's attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi. She said prosecutors have still offered no concrete evidence that her client attended the camp.
Umer Hayat's attorney, Johnny Griffin III, said he was "extremely pleased" his client wasn't charged with any additional crime.
Prosecutors said last month that secret tape recordings by an informant add to evidence that Hamid Hayat attended a Pakistani terror training camp and trained for holy war.
The witness recorded the younger man in March and April 2003 when he was in the United States and again after Hayat arrived in Pakistan in April.
Griffin said he believes the witness was an undercover government agent who grew so close to the Hayats that he spent nights in their home. Griffin said the unnamed witness asked leading questions of his client's son.
Prosecutors said Hamid Hayat told the witness that he had been accepted at a camp that provided training in weapons and explosives and hand-to-hand combat.
They said that after failing a lie detector test upon his return, Hayat admitted in a videotaped interview that he attended one camp for three days in 2000 and a second for three to six months in 2003 and 2004, describing the location and layout of the second camp.
The younger man admitted during the videotaped interrogation that he "intended to commit jihad in the U.S. He did not have any orders to fight at present; however, he was awaiting such orders," prosecutors said.
Both Hayats have pleaded not guilty in Sacramento federal court and are being held without bond, though a bail hearing was set for Friday. The men are scheduled to be arraigned on new charges then.
More
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/22/state/n141903D27.DTL
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