05-26-2006, 07:10 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Pakistani immigrant gulty in Herald Square subway bomb plot
By Tom Hays
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
New York (AP) - A high school dropout who first drew the attention of undercover police with his anti-American rants after the Sept. 11 terror attacks was convicted Wednesday on charges he plotted to blow up one of Manhattan's busiest subway stations.
A federal jury in Brooklyn deliberated two days before finding the <b>Pakistani immigrant, Shahawar Matin Siraj,</b> guilty of conspiracy and other charges in a case that cast a spotlight on how the NYPD has sought to monitor radical Muslims in the post-Sept. 11 world.
Siraj faces up to life in prison at sentencing Oct. 5, though the term could be much shorter under sentencing guidelines.
The 23-year-old defendant - who had rejected a plea deal that would have put behind bars for 10 years -listened to the verdict with downcast eyes.
Afterward, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly issued a statement hailing the outcome as "an important milestone in safeguarding New York against terrorist
plotters whether homegrown or foreign."
Siraj's attorney, Martin Stolar, called such claims misleading.
"This is not somebody who is a terrorist," he told reporters outside court. "What they should worry about are sleeper cells, not Matin Siraj."
The defense had sought to portray Siraj as an impressionable simpleton - his own lawyer referred to him as "not the brightest bulb in the chandelier" -
who was lured into a phony plot by a paid informant eager to earn his keep.
Prosecutors argued that even if it wasn't the defendant's idea to bomb a subway
station in retaliation for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, no law-abiding citizen would have gone along with it.
U.S. Attorney Todd Harrison suggested to jurors that "normal people" like them would have responded, "Excuse me, are you crazy? Thanks, but no thanks."
Siraj and another man suspected in the plot, James Elshafay, were arrested on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention carrying crude diagrams
of their target - the subway station in Herald Square, a dense shopping district that includes Macy's flagship department store. Elshafay immediately agreed
to cooperate with the government.
Authorities said Siraj had no affiliation with known terrorist organizations. Instead, he was a relative loner who befriended the informant, Osama Eldawoody,
and an undercover police officer at an Islamic bookstore where he was a clerk.
Eldawoody, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Egypt, and the Bangladesh-born undercover officer - who both testified for the government - had been assigned by
the New York Police Department to identify and monitor Islamic extremists in the city's Muslim neighborhoods following the 2001 destruction of the World Trade
Center.
The undercover officer, who testified using an alias, described being plucked straight out of the police academy in 2003 and given orders to become a "walking
camera" among Muslims. He recalled a conversation on the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in which Siraj "complimented" Osama bin Laden.
"He said he was a talented brother and a great planner and that he hoped bin Laden planned something big for America," the officer said.
Inside the bookstore, Eldawoody wore a wire and chatted up Siraj. When the topic turned to the war in Iraq, the defendant recounted rumors among radicals
that U.S. soldiers were sexually abusing Iraqi girls.
"That was enough for me," he said in one of series of secretly recorded conversations played for the jury. "I'm ready to do anything. I don't care about my
life."
Eldawoody, assuming the role of an accomplice, assured Siraj that any plan he concocted would have the backing of a fictitious faction called The
Brotherhood. On tape, Siraj was heard musing about possibly destroying the Verrazano-Narrows and three other bridges serving Staten Island or killing
Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Testifying in his own defense last week, Siraj said he never had a violent thought before he fell under the spell of the 50-year-old Eldawoody. He said the older
man became a mentor and instructed him that there was a fatwa, or religious edict, permitting the killing of U.S. soldiers and law enforcement agents.
Eldawoody had himself talked about "blowing up the buildings and blowing up the Wall Street places," the defendant said. He admitted taking steps to attack the
subway station, but only after the informant inflamed him by showing him photos of prisoners being abused at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
"I used to just listen to him, but I never said 'yes, I was going to do it,' or 'no' until the Abu Ghraib thing came up," he said.
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By Tom Hays
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
New York (AP) - A high school dropout who first drew the attention of undercover police with his anti-American rants after the Sept. 11 terror attacks was convicted Wednesday on charges he plotted to blow up one of Manhattan's busiest subway stations.
A federal jury in Brooklyn deliberated two days before finding the <b>Pakistani immigrant, Shahawar Matin Siraj,</b> guilty of conspiracy and other charges in a case that cast a spotlight on how the NYPD has sought to monitor radical Muslims in the post-Sept. 11 world.
Siraj faces up to life in prison at sentencing Oct. 5, though the term could be much shorter under sentencing guidelines.
The 23-year-old defendant - who had rejected a plea deal that would have put behind bars for 10 years -listened to the verdict with downcast eyes.
Afterward, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly issued a statement hailing the outcome as "an important milestone in safeguarding New York against terrorist
plotters whether homegrown or foreign."
Siraj's attorney, Martin Stolar, called such claims misleading.
"This is not somebody who is a terrorist," he told reporters outside court. "What they should worry about are sleeper cells, not Matin Siraj."
The defense had sought to portray Siraj as an impressionable simpleton - his own lawyer referred to him as "not the brightest bulb in the chandelier" -
who was lured into a phony plot by a paid informant eager to earn his keep.
Prosecutors argued that even if it wasn't the defendant's idea to bomb a subway
station in retaliation for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, no law-abiding citizen would have gone along with it.
U.S. Attorney Todd Harrison suggested to jurors that "normal people" like them would have responded, "Excuse me, are you crazy? Thanks, but no thanks."
Siraj and another man suspected in the plot, James Elshafay, were arrested on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention carrying crude diagrams
of their target - the subway station in Herald Square, a dense shopping district that includes Macy's flagship department store. Elshafay immediately agreed
to cooperate with the government.
Authorities said Siraj had no affiliation with known terrorist organizations. Instead, he was a relative loner who befriended the informant, Osama Eldawoody,
and an undercover police officer at an Islamic bookstore where he was a clerk.
Eldawoody, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Egypt, and the Bangladesh-born undercover officer - who both testified for the government - had been assigned by
the New York Police Department to identify and monitor Islamic extremists in the city's Muslim neighborhoods following the 2001 destruction of the World Trade
Center.
The undercover officer, who testified using an alias, described being plucked straight out of the police academy in 2003 and given orders to become a "walking
camera" among Muslims. He recalled a conversation on the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in which Siraj "complimented" Osama bin Laden.
"He said he was a talented brother and a great planner and that he hoped bin Laden planned something big for America," the officer said.
Inside the bookstore, Eldawoody wore a wire and chatted up Siraj. When the topic turned to the war in Iraq, the defendant recounted rumors among radicals
that U.S. soldiers were sexually abusing Iraqi girls.
"That was enough for me," he said in one of series of secretly recorded conversations played for the jury. "I'm ready to do anything. I don't care about my
life."
Eldawoody, assuming the role of an accomplice, assured Siraj that any plan he concocted would have the backing of a fictitious faction called The
Brotherhood. On tape, Siraj was heard musing about possibly destroying the Verrazano-Narrows and three other bridges serving Staten Island or killing
Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Testifying in his own defense last week, Siraj said he never had a violent thought before he fell under the spell of the 50-year-old Eldawoody. He said the older
man became a mentor and instructed him that there was a fatwa, or religious edict, permitting the killing of U.S. soldiers and law enforcement agents.
Eldawoody had himself talked about "blowing up the buildings and blowing up the Wall Street places," the defendant said. He admitted taking steps to attack the
subway station, but only after the informant inflamed him by showing him photos of prisoners being abused at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
"I used to just listen to him, but I never said 'yes, I was going to do it,' or 'no' until the Abu Ghraib thing came up," he said.
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