A Yemeni sheikh arrested after an FBI sting operation in Germany in 2003 was sentenced to 75 years in prison today for conspiring to support and fund al Qaeda and Hamas.
Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, 56, was sentenced to 75 years and fined $1.25 million in a federal court in Brooklyn. For each of five counts, he received 15-year sentences, each to be served consecutively.
Prosecutor Kelly Moore said during the trial that al-Moayad had ties to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and had bragged about having "taught him about Islamic law."
The sheikh was arrested in Germany in 2003 after telling a federal agent posing as an American businessman that he would help him funnel money to militants, prosecutors said. He was later 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, 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.
Al-Moayad was acquitted on a separate count of actually providing such support to al Qaeda, but was found guilty of providing material support and resources to Hamas.
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. "God, my witness, I did not support Hamas."