Oregon: Muslim arrested for aiding suicide bomber who killed 30, injured 300 more

via Oregon man arrested for aiding suicide bomber who killed 30 people in Pakistan – NY Daily News.

PORTLAND, Ore. — FBI agents on Tuesday arrested a Portland city worker on allegations that he provided support to a suicide bomber who participated in a 2009 attack in Pakistan that killed about 30 people and injured another 300.

Obama, Biden, Clinton, Kerry, McCain, Rubio, and all the others are providing billions in support to Syrian, Pakistani, Libyan and other terrorists. Double standard?

Reaz Qadir Khan, 48, was arrested at his home and charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall said. He pleaded not guilty later in the day in federal court, The Oregonian reported.

Khan is a wastewater treatment plant operator for the city of Portland.

The arrest “brings home the reality that worldwide headlines can resonate right here in Portland,” Mayor Charlie Hales said in a statement. The mayor urged people to remember that charges are only allegations and that Khan is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

Khan was jailed pending a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

If convicted, Khan faces a potential sentence of life in prison.

An indictment unsealed Tuesday alleges the naturalized U.S. citizen provided advice and financial help to Ali Jaleel, one of three people who carried out the attack at Pakistan’s intelligence headquarters in Lahore.

Jaleel died in the attack. He took responsibility for the bombing in a video released by al-Qaida, and was shown at a training camp, Marshall said.

Dhimmitude alert from U.S. Attorney who is not permitted to say jihad.

“The events of May 27, 2009, remind us that terrorism is not defined by Muslims targeting non-Muslims, but is defined by violent extremists targeting anyone they perceive as a threat to their oppressive agenda,” Marshall said.

Jihad is defined that way though – by Muslim texts and scholars – isn’t it?

Khan’s attorney, Larry Matasar, declined to discuss the case.

“We just have to take this one step at a time,” he said. “We’re going to first try to get him released from custody (Wednesday).”

According to the indictment, Khan conspired with Jaleel and others starting in December 2005.

Jaleel allegedly emailed Khan in 2008 about his plan to travel to Pakistan. Two years earlier, Jaleel had been part of a small group from the Maldives that tried to enter Pakistan for training, but was detained, returned home and placed under house arrest.

Khan, the indictment states, instructed Jaleel on how to avoid detection and offered to help with financial arrangements.

In October 2008, Jaleel wrote that he needed $2,500. According to the indictment, Khan contacted someone in Los Angeles who arranged to have the money waiting for Jaleel in Karachi, Pakistan.

Jaleel wrote to Khan the following month, saying he was about to enter training camp and did not need all the money. Khan allegedly told Jaleel to keep the money so it could be sent to Jaleel’s two wives in the Maldives.

Shortly after the suicide attack, Khan wired almost $750 from an Oregon store to one of Jaleel’s wives, the indictment states.

 

Saudi official who founded jihad-funding Islamic charity in Oregon taken off UN sanctions list

via Founder of Islamic charity in Oregon taken off UN sanctions list for ties to al-Qaida | Fox News.

A Saudi Arabian government official who started an Islamic charity in Oregon has been taken off a United Nations list of people subject to sanctions for ties to al-Qaida but remains on a similar U.S. list.

The U.N. Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaida removed Soliman al-Buthe, now a deputy minister in Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Municipalities, from the list Monday.

Al-Buthe still faces arrest if he returns to the United States. A federal indictment alleges he smuggled $150,000 in cash collected by Al Haramain Islamic Foundation in Ashland to Saudi Arabia in 2000 to help terrorists in Chechnya. His co-defendant, Iranian-American tree surgeon Pete Seda, is serving 33 months in prison after being convicted of conspiracy and tax fraud.

Al-Buthe’s attorney Tom Nelson said the U.N. action is some vindication for his client, but al-Buthe is still trying to get off the U.S. terrorism list.

He and Al Haramain remain on the Treasury Department’s al-Qaida sanctions list. The foundation disbanded after the department froze its assets in 2004 for allegedly aiding terrorists in Chechnya and Albania. A federal appeals court upheld the listing, but not the assets freeze.

Nelson said Treasury has not responded to his application to be taken off the list since he filed it two years ago.

Treasury spokesman John Sullivan said people are taken off the list, but he did immediately respond to questions about whether al-Buthe’s request to be removed had been received or why Nelson has received no response.

The reasons al-Buthe was taken off the U.N. list were not given by the committee, which said in a statement only that it considered a request submitted through the committee’s ombudsperson, and the ombudsperson’s comprehensive report.

Kimberly Prost, ombudsperson for the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, said al-Buthe was the 21st applicant to be taken off the list, made up of more than 350 people and organizations. Two others whose cases have been reviewed were not. She said her report was confidential and she could not disclose its contents.

[O]mbudsperson for the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee? Seriously? h/t to Money Jihad who writes:

Working together with convicted terror money man Pete Seda, Soliman al-Buthe carried out a funding operation for jihadists in Chechnya in early 2000 by helping route money through the now closed Oregon chapter of the Saudi-based Al Haramain Islamic Foundation.  Al-Buthe personally cashed $130,000 in smuggled checks from this operation at the notorious Al Rajhi Bank for subsequent transfer to the mujahideen.

While Seda faced the U.S. justice system, al-Buthe eluded it, but remained under international sanctions—until now.  It may take a little arm twisting and payola at the UN, but even Al Qaeda financiers like this fellow, and Yasin al-Qadi before him, can get themselves removed from the blacklist if they lobby hard enough.

Using U.S. lawyers no less.

Portland: Muslim guilty in Christmas tree-lighting bomb plot

#MyJihad is killing thousands of Americans as they light a Christmas tree. What’s yours?

via Mohamed Mohamud found guilty in Portland terrorism trial | OregonLive.com.

A federal jury found Mohamed Osman Mohamud guilty Thursday of attempting to detonate a bomb during Portland’s 2010 holiday tree-lighting ceremony.

The jury handed up its verdict after less than seven hours of deliberations in a trial that began Jan. 10 in a downtown courtroom just a few blocks from the scene of the crime.

Mohamud, a 21-year-old Somali American, was convicted of the only charge confronting him: trying to use a weapon of mass destruction. He faces a potential sentence of life in prison. The sentencing hearing was set for May 14.

Chief defense attorney Stephen R. Sady said he will appeal and will seek a “substantially reduced sentence” for Mohamud.

“We’re disappointed with the verdict … we obviously thought he was entrapped,” Sady said. “We will pursue what remedies are available for him.’’

Lead prosecutor Ethan D. Knight thanked the jurors. “It was a difficult case,” he said. “We appreciate the jury’s deliberation … and we agree with the verdict.”

Trial testimony showed that Mohamud had written for an online jihadi magazine, traded emails with two accused terrorists and was in contact with another man who left the Northwest to fight against coalition troops in Afghanistan.

He was under watch by the FBI for nearly a year when agents got the “green light” to target him for investigation. The bureau sent in two undercover agents posing as al-Qaida operatives to befriend Mohamud and learn his intentions.

In his first meeting with one of the agents, on July 30, 2010, he expressed interest in taking part in a car bombing. Thus began an investigative courtship and a sting that would end on the evening of Nov. 26, 2010.

On that day, agents presented Mohamud with a fake but realistic looking fertilizer bomb secretly built by an FBI bomb tech. The massive explosive choked the cargo area of the van. Mohamud grinned and declared the device “beautiful.”

Later that night, from the passenger seat of an SUV parked about 1,000 yards from Pioneer Courthouse Square, Mohamud pressed the keypad of a cell phone to detonate the device. When nothing happened, one of the undercover FBI agents told him to get out and try it again.

When he did, a team of FBI agents rushed the van and arrested him.

Mohamud’s lawyers had throughout the trial laid grounds for appellate court filings.

Among the key points: U.S. District Judge Garr M. King, who presided in the case, ruled that Mohamud’s lawyers could not know the true identity of the undercover agents who helped make the sting; he said giving up their names would put the agents’ lives at risk and potentially damage ongoing national security cases.

By not allowing the defense to know the identities of the agents, who were allowed to use their pseudonyms at trial, the defense could make no inquiries about whether the agents had been disciplined or been found to have lied in previous cases.

In court doctuments, Mohamud’s lawyers acknowledged that Mohamud pushed the cell phone buttons and joined in the plot. But they said he realizes what he did was wrong.

“He deeply regrets his actions,” they wrote, “and is humiliated and ashamed for what he said and did.”

He regrets that he didn’t kill thousands of Americans as he thought he was going to do but was instead arrested and found guilty. From a previous post:

On Nov. 4, the court documents say, Mohamud made a video in the presence of one of the undercover agents, putting on clothes he described as “Sheik Osama style:” a white robe, red and white headdress, and camouflage jacket.

He read a statement speaking of his dream of bringing “a dark day” on Americans and blaming his family for thwarting him, according to the court documents:

“To my parents who held me back from Jihad in the cause of Allah. I say to them … if you — if you make allies with the enemy, then Allah’s power … will ask you about that on the day of judgment, and nothing that you do can hold me back …”

Oregon Christmas bomber wrote for jihadi magazine

via Prosecutors highlight Ore. terrorism suspect’s contributions to ‘Jihad Recollections’ magazine – The Washington Post.

PORTLAND, Ore. — In a slow, dispassionate monotone, an FBI agent on Thursday read selections from an Oregon terrorism suspect’s contributions to a jihadi magazine as prosecutors attempted to establish Mohamed Mohamud’s mindset in the year before his arrest.

Mohamud’s federal terrorism trial is in its third week, and prosecutors have tried to show Mohamud was predisposed to committing terrorism before a monthslong sting operation culminated with his November 2010 arrest.

As a teenager in 2009, Mohamud contributed to the online, English-language jihadi magazine “Jihad Recollections.”

His contributions to the publication varied in focus and appeared alongside articles written by Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida higher-ups.

Establishing Mohamud’s state of mind before the FBI targeted him in a terrorism sting operation is key to the prosecution’s assertion that it did not entrap a then-teenager, as his defense claims.

Mohamud’s pseudonymous contributions to “Jihad Recollections” were made public soon after his indictment on charges that he attempted to detonate a bomb at Portland’s 2010 Christmas-tree lighting ceremony. The bomb was a fake supplied by undercover FBI agents.

Jurors heard at least one straight hour of content from the magazine, read by Dwyer. The articles, written by a variety of authors other than Mohamud, were aimed at radicalizing Muslims in the U.S. and included advice on bringing recent Muslim converts into a war against the West.

The issue was a significant one at the time Mohamud was writing — more than a dozen Somali teenagers left Minneapolis in 2009, apparently en route to join a global jihad. The magazine also tracked with terror cases in the U.S., praising both the massacre at Fort Hood, outside Killeen, Texas, and an attempted bombing in Times Square.

Obama unilaterally targeted and drone killed several other Americans who wrote for the same magazine. By Obama’s rule of law or lack thereof, this kid should be feeling lucky he’s alive.

Oregon: Fed prosecutors have to ask judge’s permission to use terms jihad, terrorist in Islamic jihad plot on Americans

You can’t make this shit up.

Atlas Shrugs nails it:

So Muslims slaughter in the cause of jihad, but the kaffir is not allowed to speak of it.

It’s as if the prosecutors have to ask permission of the court so as not to …. blaspheme under the sharia. Seriously, this is sharia adherence in an American court.

‘Terrorist,’ ‘violent jihad’ among words prosecutors want to use in Portland terrorism trial

PORTLAND, Ore. — Prosecutors want to call an Oregon [Muslim] man a terrorist while referring to violent jihad and martyrdom, words his defense attorneys have asked a federal judge to forbid.

Federal prosecutors preparing for the January trial of Mohamed Mohamud said in a motion filed Tuesday that the court should let them use the terms because they accurately characterize Mohamud’s “conduct and the nature of his case.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight notes in the motion that Mohamud himself allegedly used the terms “terrorism” and “jihad” when speaking with undercover agents, though records of such conversations have not yet been made public.

Knight also seeks to refer to Mohamud’s occasional dispatches for the jihadist magazine “Jihad Recollections,” reports that Mohamud’s attorneys say are protected speech done while Mohamud, 21, was a minor.

Mohamud is accused of conspiring with men he believed were Islamic radicals to detonate a car bomb near a 2010 Portland Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. The bomb was a fake provided by the government and the men were undercover agents.

Defense attorneys Steve Sady and Steve Wax argued in a motion that such words will “blur and dilute the specific elements of the offense and distort the facts of the case.”

Prosecutors responded that such a prohibition should be measured, if used at all.

Dhimmitude.

More on the jihadist hopeful from this 2010 post, Somali Muslim arrested in sting to bomb city Christmas tree-lighting:

Mohamud made a video…putting on clothes he described as “Sheik Osama style:” a white robe, red and white headdress, and camouflage jacket.

He read a statement speaking of his dream of bringing “a dark day” on Americans and blaming his family for thwarting him, according to the court documents:

“To my parents who held me back from Jihad in the cause of Allah. I say to them … if you — if you make allies with the enemy, then Allah’s power … will ask you about that on the day of judgment, and nothing that you do can hold me back …”

Oregon mosque led by convicted Social Security fraudster

Yet Helen Jung and others can’t seem to figure out why the terror-linked Oregon mosque is under FBI scrutiny. It takes 20+ paragraphs to find out the mosque is led by a convicted criminal. via Masjed As-Saber, Oregon Mosque Under FBI Scrutiny.

In September 2002, authorities arrested Kariye at Portland International Airport as he and family members prepared to fly to Dubai. He was charged the next day with Social Security fraud, but his arrest by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force signaled a more ominous suspicion.

The arrest was unusual. A federal prosecutor successfully argued to hold Kariye without bail, saying a customs official at the airport had found traces of TNT on his bags. Tests two weeks later concluded the initial findings were wrong and Kariye was released the following month.

Kariye pleaded guilty six months later to understating his income to qualify for Oregon Health Plan benefits and using a Social Security card with a false birth date to obtain the benefits. A judge sentenced him to probation and he paid $6,000 in fines and restitution.

But that didn’t end the FBI’s interest. An affidavit in August 2003 revealed that agents believed Kariye financially supported a group of Muslims — known as the Portland Seven — who had tried to reach Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban in September 2001. Most had regularly prayed at Masjed As-Saber and were turned in by an FBI informant at the mosque who recorded hours of conversations with two primary defendants.

Kariye was never charged. The FBI affidavit stated the informant failed to record a key conversation that allegedly described the imam’s support.

…

In March, Wells Fargo abruptly decided to close the bank accounts of the imam and the mosque. Both had accounts at the bank for several years.

A Wells Fargo spokesman, Tom Unger, said he doesn’t know the reasons for the bank’s decision, but maintained that “neither religion nor any other factors that could be considered discriminatory are included as part of that process” for closing the accounts.

But Unger advised doing an Internet search on the mosque’s name, which turns up various links to news stories as well as other websites including those that allege a connection to terrorism.

And unlike Helen Jung, we did an Internet search and found this:

Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye was a co-founder of the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), which the U.S. government shut down in December 2001 because of its ties to terrorism. For at least one year after GRF’s creation in 1991, Kariye was on the organization’s board of directors.

…federal prosecutors would argue that Kariye funded a trip to Afghanistan for a group of would-be terrorists, all of whom were worshipers at the Islamic Center of Portland. In an FBI affidavit, it was stated that Kariye gave six persons (known as the Portland Six) $2000 each, for the purpose of financing their travels to Afghanistan, where they were to join al Qaeda and Taliban forces in their fight against American troops.  One of the six, Jeffrey Battle, described the Islamic Center of Portland as being “the only mosque to teach about jihad.” Battle stated that he had “talked to Kariye about jihad,” that Kariye “had fought in the jihad,” and that “Kariye told his followers they should fight with other Muslims in Afghanistan against Americans.” Battle further stated that Kariye had provided “$2,000 for each of the men and the money was acquired from members of the mosque.”

More posts on Oregon here.

10 AM @creepingsharia Reads

Too much creeping, too little time. Volunteers welcome.

1. Welcome to the Minnesota Da’wah Institute
2. Milwaukee mosque opponent aware of two Muslim women from Dearborn being “harbored” in Wisconsin; Muslims respond: “We’re going to use the principals of the sharia to be able to help decide what we are going to teach to our children and teach to ourselves.”
3. Virgina DMV revokes “F.OSAMA” license plates, replaced with “6668UP”
4. Washington, DC: 27 Muslim & Arab groups tell Senate to make Islam a protected class
5. Moderate Muslims fulfill dawah pushing sharia in Houston, similar lies in Vero Beach, and deceiving senior citizens somewhere in the U.S.
6. Alameda (CA) Army-Navy Surplus store sports terrorist mannequin complete with bomb vest, red-checkered kefiyah, and AK-47! (picture)
7. Virginia: Woman In black burka Kicked Out Of Obama Campaign Event
8. Goldman Sachs caught in a Sharia Catch-22
9. Oregon FBI about to be submitted as Hamas-CAIR Tells their Tools at Department of Justice to Probe 
10. Dead North Carolina Muslim’s guidebook to jihad, Full Expectations – short, read it

Oregon Muslim woman lost Dem Congressional run switches to Republican

We’ve maintained for some time that Muslims are generally more aligned with conservatives and their voting largely Democratic is a more about appeasement and social dhimmitude. Like Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan, and recently a CAIR agitator in Florida, however, infiltration is a multi-party game. Beaverton Muslim woman who ran for Congress switches to Republican Party | OregonLive.com. h/t Islamist Watch.

Saba Ahmed, the young Muslim woman from Beaverton who ran in the Democratic primary for Oregon’s 1st District congressional seat, says she has switched to the Republican Party.

From her Facebook page:

“Never thought I would see this day, but I am officially a registered REPUBLICAN. Thank you to all the Oregon Democrats for helping me realize my Conservative Potential. Looking forward to 2012 Republican Victories!”

Ahmed, who had interned for then-Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, has been a frequent participant in Democratic events.  She received less than a half-percent of the votes in last week’s primary.

She added:

(M)y conservative Islamic values (pro-life, pro-family values, pro-business) made it very hard for me to defend myself as a Democrat. George Bush advocated water boarding torture just like Obama advocated drone missiles. Both parties treat Muslims badly, which is why American economy is going bankrupt fighting Islam. Inshallah, I look forward to helping foster a better understanding of our faith...

And yes I was banned from the Oregon Tea Party and Washington County Republicans earlier this year because of my Islamic beliefs, but I have to believe there is room for learning. I have to try and make a place for myself even if i’m unwelcomed. I know several tea party republicans hate me because they somehow blame me for 9/11. But I know once we talk to each other, get to know one another, we can all heal together. Inshallah!

Ahmed said in an interview that she wants to help Republican congressional nominee Rob Cornilles in his race against Democrat nominee Suzanne Bonamici by building support for him in minority communities.

Will Republican’s vet Ahmed who claims she was banned for her religious beliefs? Logan’s Warning had some background on Ahmed during her Congressional bid, JUST SAY NO TO ~ Saba Ahmed, Candidate for United States Congress. 

Not clear, but is this the same Saba Ahmed from Beaverton?

Portland Public Schools Ramadan accommodations

Two sides of the same story here. At first glance it seems one radio host’s claims were exaggerated, although the same school administrator quoted below confirmed at least two Muslim students were given space to pray. The other side, the Oregonian, gives preferential treatment of Muslims in schools a free pass. Somewhere in between lies the reality, that is another school making exceptions for Islam.

…a couple of memos from Portland Public Schools’ general counsel Jollee Faber Patterson. One of the memos deals with religious instruction in school and makes clear that teachers should neither encourage nor discourage religious expression — no matter the faith.

In another memo, this one dealing specifically with special requests during Ramadan, Patterson suggests that schools “should accommodate reasonable requests.” This, she writes, would include giving students access to a quiet place to pray and excusing students from physical education should they be fasting during the day (as is custom during Ramadan).

Shelby says Portland Public Schools has made allowances for children of other faiths as well. At one elementary school, Christian students are allowed to miss class in order to participate in religious studies off campus. A few years back, Wilson High School rescheduled a graduation ceremony to accommodate Jewish students who were observing Shabbat. Other schools keep the Sabbath in mind when scheduling Friday night and weekend activities, Shelby said.

“It’s all over the board, and we try to accommodate our kids as best we can,” Shelby said.

The ACLU has worked for decades to remove religion, even private prayer, from American schools, except when it comes to Islam. Shelby left a comment in the original piece linked above that stated in part:

The school does not have any space or equipment devoted to any type of religious practice.

Four years ago, the school did have two brothers who asked permission to pray at lunch during Ramadan. The school did give them a quiet space to use; they missed no instructional time and only prayed once a day

Those are the facts.

So the fact is that the school did provide a space for Muslims to pray. ACLU?

Portland Public Schools distributed two letters on religion, one for all religions and a second specifically for treatment of Muslims during the Islamic month of jihad, Ramadan. In itself telling.

The first letter reads:

In planning activities, schools must not only protect an individual’s right to freedom of religious expression but also avoid the endorsement of religious activity or doctrine.

The Ramadan letter below.

Isn’t allowing Muslims to pray and exempting them from physical education during Ramadan a defacto endorsement of religious activity or doctrine?

The school does not have any space or equipment devoted to any type of religious practice. 

Four years ago, the school did have two brothers who asked permission to pray at lunch during Ramadan. The school did give them a quiet space to use; they missed no instructional time and only prayed once a day

Court upholds conviction of Muslim who planned Oregon jihad camp

via The Canadian Press

NEW YORK, N.Y. — A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of a Lebanese-born Swede who was sentenced to life in prison for plotting to open a terrorism training camp in the U.S. in 1999 to help al-Qaida.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued an order Wednesday that upheld the jury’s 2009 conclusions.

Oussama Kassir was convicted of supporting al-Qaida by trying to help open the camp in Bly, Oregon, in late 1999 and early 2000.

No honor amongst jihadis. Kassir was convicted with a little help from another Muslim, black convert and rat fink James Ujaama. From a previous post, Almost beheaded by fellow jihadi, Seattle Muslim turns into a rat:

Ten years ago, on a dusty ranch in southern Oregon, one-time Seattle hustler and Muslim convert James Ujaama came close to having his head cut off by a Swede named Oussama Kassir.

Kassir, according to court documents, had come to Bly, Ore., on the orders of Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical Islamic preacher and purported al-Qaida recruiter in London, to help Ujaama set up a Jihad training camp on U.S. soil.

Ujaama had promised Abu Hamza guns, recruits and terrain remarkably similar to Afghanistan. Kassir, a hardened Jihad fighter who claims he’s killed dozens in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya, was purportedly dispatched from London with another man and $12,000 in startup money.

What Kassir and his comrade found after their 7,000-mile trip were a couple of dilapidated trailers, a motley group of followers — including women and children — and a lot of big talk from Ujaama.

So Kassir, according to documents and eyewitness accounts, decided that he would kill Ujaama and bury him in Bly. Ujaama managed to keep his head.

But Kassir, a Lebanese-born Swedish citizen and engineer who once bragged that he was a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, may wish he’d carried out the threat: This week, the 43-year-old Ujaama — now a federal felon — is expected to be the star witness against Kassir in a terrorism-related trial in U.S. District Court in New York.

Convicted Islamic charity leader could go free on govt error

Inexcusable. An update to previous posts on the Oregon Muslim who funneled cash to the Chechen jihad. via Government concedes failure to turn over evidence in Islamic charity trial | OregonLive.com.

Four months ago, federal prosecutors won the conviction of an Oregon man for funneling money from an Islamic charity to Saudi Arabia. Now the government concedes it failed to turn over pretrial papers — including evidence that the FBI made payments to the husband of a witness.

“While we disagree with the defense team’s characterization of those documents, and we believe that none of this material could have altered the outcome at trial, we acknowledge that additional proceedings will take some time to resolve,” wrote U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton in a federal court filing in Eugene.

Holton and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Zusman filed their response to a defense motion this week asking for the release of Pete Seda, co-founder of Ashland’s now-defunct Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation.

In September, a federal jury in Eugene found Seda guilty of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and filing a false tax return. Since then, the Iranian American has been jailed.

U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan will hear arguments Wednesday on whether to release Seda as he awaits sentencing and possibly a new trial.

Seda’s defense team filed a motion for a new trial in late September and supplemented that request Wednesday with accusations that the FBI had offered money to a key witness against Seda and paid her husband for his assistance in their investigation.

The government turned over new documents in the case Jan. 6, nearly four months after Seda was found guilty.

The new evidence indicates the FBI paid a southern Oregon man named Richard Cabral $14,500 for his assistance in the criminal investigation of Seda. Cabral died before the trial, but his wife, Barbara Cabral, testified against Seda.

New documents show the FBI offered to pay Barbara Cabral $7,500 after the trial, Seda’s lawyers allege. Her trial testimony directly linked Seda to attempts to fund Muslim mujahedeen, who were helping to break Chechnya free of the Russian federation, the defense team wrote.

Prosecutors contended that Seda helped smuggle $150,000 to Saudi Arabia that was intended for the mujahedeen. But Seda’s defense team said that the money was intended for humanitarian purposes in Chechnya and that the government presented no evidence at trial that it ever got there.

The government previously fought to keep Seda jailed as someone likely to flee if released. But it appears prosecutors are easing off their position.

“During this interim period — post-trial, but before a final ruling on the pending motions and an anticipated appeal — this court will have to weigh the risk of flight against the equitable concern of further delay to resolve these recent discovery issues,” Holton wrote to Judge Hogan.

“For these reasons,” he wrote, “the United States takes no position on Seda’s motion for immediate release.”