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Forward From: Patrice Riemens [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 06 May 2004 16:26
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: more anti-terrorism blues: buid a website- go to jail... (fwd)
Hi John,
It's getting bluer & bluer...
Will you be in Newcastle 2nd half of August?
cheers and greetz to Joanne,
patrizio & Diiiinoooos!
(in Rotterdam, going to the presentation of Arjen Mulder's Media Theory at
V2)
Fwd to CSL is allowed
----- Forwarded message from Caroline Heatlie <[log in to unmask]> -----
From: "Caroline Heatlie" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "Hippies from Hell" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 15:41:45 +0200
Subject: Links to Terrorism - Build a Web site, go to jail
http://www.reason.com/sullum/043004.shtml
Links to Terrorism
Build a Web site, go to jail
Jacob Sullum
During their opening statement in Sami Al-Hussayen's trial at the federal
courthouse in Boise, Idaho, prosecutors put a new spin on the slippery
concept of "links to terrorism." The Idaho Statesman reports that they
"displayed a chart" showing how a Web site that Al-Hussayen had helped
maintain "could eventually access 20 other sites with ties to radical
organizations."
Talk about guilt by association. Given the interconnected nature of the
World Wide Web (they don't call it a "web" for nothing), just about any site
with hyperlinks "could eventually access" something sinister.
That does not mean Al-Hussayen, a 34-year-old Saudi whom the government
accuses of supporting terrorism by creating and maintaining Web sites for
various Islamic organizations, is the man he claims to be: a peaceful
computer science student who rejects terrorism and was simply trying to
promote Islamic outreach and education through volunteer work. But judging
from the evidence the government has presented so far, he could be.
Al-Hussayen's trial, which is expected to conclude by June, illustrates the
difficulty of deciding when "links to terrorism" should be treated as a
crime. It also shows the importance of maintaining an open, adversarial
process for judging whether someone is guilty of siding with terrorists-a
timely reminder as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether the Bush
administration has the authority to make such determinations secretly and
unilaterally.
Al-Hussayen, who was arrested in February 2003 while working toward a Ph.D.
in computer science at the University of Idaho, is charged with providing
"material support" to terrorists, a crime that was broadened by the PATRIOT
Act to include "expert guidance or assistance." As Attorney General John
Ashcroft summed it up, "Al-Hussayen knew and intended that his computer
services and expertise would be used to recruit and raise funds for violent
jihad around the world."
Since what Al-Hussayen did is not really in dispute, his guilt hinges on
what he "knew and intended." But the government's evidence that he
deliberately aided terrorism consists almost entirely of online statements
by others that he says he neither created nor endorsed.
"The core of the case," the prosecutors say, is four fatwas (religious
decrees) that were posted at www.alasr.net, a site that Al-Hussayen helped
maintain. The fatwas, which appeared in 2001, defend suicide attacks on "the
enemy" as consistent with Islam.
But Al-Hussayen-who as a local Muslim leader released a statement after the
September 11 attacks condemning "vicious acts of terrorism against innocent
civilians"-insists he does not agree with those fatwas. They were among
thousands of postings that he handled for various sites, which also included
articles arguing that terrorism is contrary to Islam. Prosecutors concede
that "much of the content of the Web sites was seemingly benign."
Likewise, the government holds Al-Hussayen responsible for incendiary
comments by participants in a Yahoo! e-mail group devoted to Chechnya.
Although Al-Hussayen was listed as one of several moderators for the list,
he served that function only 17 times over three years and deleted just one
message during that time, a pattern that seems to indicate inattention
rather than agreement.
In any event, as with the fatwas, the government is prosecuting Al-Hussayen
based on his presumed approval of statements that, however reprehensible,
would be protected by the First Amendment if he had written them himself.
Similarly, his alleged support for terrorism includes his donations to the
Michigan-based Islamic Assembly of North America, which has not been
classified as a terrorist group and continues to operate as a legally
recognized charity.
Prosecutors say Al-Hussayen's personal views are irrelevant. All that
matters is that he knowingly provided "expert guidance or assistance" that
aided terrorist recruitment and fund raising.
But given the broad meaning of "expert guidance or assistance" and the
difficulty of getting inside people's heads, the same charge could be
leveled against anyone who performed professional services for a group that
the government believes has terrorist ties. Under the Justice Department's
reading of the law, Georgetown University law professor David Cole told The
New York Times, "Somebody who fixes a fax machine that is owned by a group
that may advocate terrorism could be liable."
Al-Hussayen may face a formidable task in convincing a jury that he did not
know and intend what the government says he did. But given the way the Bush
administration treats terrorism suspects it designates as "enemy
combatants," he is lucky to have the opportunity.
Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason and the author of Saying Yes: In
Defense of Drug Use (Tarcher/Putnam).
? Copyright 2004 by Creators Syndicate Inc.
----- End forwarded message -----
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