December 10, 2003
Photo: SHAFAL MOSED
First U.S.-born terror con
BUFFALO - The first American-born citizen to be convicted of providing material support to a known terrorist organization was sentenced yesterday to eight years in prison.
Shafal Mosed, 25, was the third member of the Lackawanna Six to be sent to prison for attending an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in the spring of 2001.
All six of the young Yemeni-American men from Lackawanna, near Buffalo, reached plea bargains with the government earlier this year that called for sentences of between seven and 10 years.
Mosed described buying an al Qaeda "uniform" and being shown how to assemble and fire rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers at the al-Farooq camp, and hearing Osama bin Laden speak about "50 men who were on a suicide mission."
The former telemarketer and father of one left Afghanistan before completing the training. He returned home about three months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
With his plea, Mosed became the first person ever to be convicted under the 1996 material support law based solely upon his attendance at a camp. Two people had previously been convicted for sending funds to the organization Hezbollah.
Following Mosed's plea, Lackawanna Six co-defendants Yahya Goba, Sahim Alwan, Yasein Taher and Mukhtar al-Bakri, also pleaded guilty to providing material support to al Qaeda. The sixth member, Faysal Galab, pleaded guilty earlier under a different statute, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Last week, two members of the group, Mukhtar al-Bakri and Yasein Taher, were sentenced to 10 years and eight years, respectively.
Today, Yahya Goba is due in court, where he is expected to receive a 10-year sentence. Sahim Alwan and Faysal Galab are due to be sentenced next week.
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