Swedish Man Accused Of Terrorism Faces New York Trial

Jury selection began on Monday in the trial of a Lebanese-born Swedish man accused of helping set up a militant training camp in rural Oregon and operating websites showing how to assemble bombs.

Oussama Abdullah Kassir, 43, who was extradited from the Czech Republic to New York in 2007, faces multiple charges, including supporting terrorism and al Qaeda, by attempting to set up the camp in Bly, Oregon from 1999 to early 2000.

Prosecutors say Kassir and two others involved in the case were followers of Egyptian-born Abu Hamza al-Masri, a one-armed Muslim cleric who is serving a seven-year sentence in Britain for inciting his followers to murder nonbelievers.

James Ujaama, a former community activist in Seattle, has pleaded guilty to trying to help al Qaeda militants and may testify at the trial in Manhattan federal court as part of a plea agreement.

The other suspect in the case, Haroon Rashid Aswat, one of Masri’s chief aides, is appealing against extradition to the United States.

via Swedish man accused of terrorism faces New York trial.

Plot To Smuggle Nuclear Materials To Iran Smashed

Chinese financier Le Fang Wei indicted in plot to send nuclear materials to Iran.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has smashed a sinister plot to smuggle nuclear weapons materials to Iran through unwitting New York banks, the Daily News has learned.

Officials plan to unseal a 118-count indictment Tuesday accusing a Chinese national of setting up a handful of fake companies to hide that he was selling millions of dollars in potential nuclear materials to Tehran.

“This case will cut off a major source of supply to Iran and it shows how they are going ahead full steam to get a nuclear bomb. Long-range missiles they pretty much have already,” a law enforcement source close to the case said.

“We think it is one of the largest suppliers of weapons of mass destruction to Iran.”

Experts say Iran, under the leadership of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appears close to amassing enough nuclear material to make an atom bomb. A United Nations embargo bans Iran from acquiring the high-tech metals needed to make a long-range nuclear weapon a reality.

The indictment will outline the financial conspiracy behind 58 different transactions, including shipments of various banned materials from China to Iran between 2006 and late 2008.

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NYC Civil Liberties Union Sues To Obtain Data On Lower Manhattan Security Plan

When the New York Police Department refused to release its database of hundreds of thousands of civilian “stop and frisk” encounters, the New York Civil Liberties Union sued to obtain the data.

The group went to court again last month after police officials resisted its requests for data on the races of people shot by officers. Read more