TerrorismCredibility of informer at the center of California terrorism trial

The trial of Sohiel Omar Kabir, 36, and Ralph Kenneth Deleon, 25, both accused of planning to travel to Afghanistan to join al-Qaeda, continued this week as prosecutors hope to convict the men on five counts of conspiracy. Prosecutors allege that Kabir, an Afghan-born naturalized American citizen, persuaded Deleon — a Filipino citizen and legal resident of the United States — and Miguel Alejandro Santana and Arifeen David Gojali, both 23, to travel to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban and later join al-Qaeda.

Deleon, Santana, and Gojali were arrested in November 2012 as they prepared to leave California to meet Kabir, who had relocated to Afghanistan. Kabir was seized by American soldiers in Afghanistan and returned to the United States to face charges. Santana and Gojali have agreed to testify against Kabir and Deleon.

An informant named Mohammad Hammad is reported to have documented the men’s plot and given audio and video footage with prosecutors. The men visited firing ranges and renewed their passports as they prepared for their trip to Afghanistan. Deleon even dropped out of college and sold his car to raise money for the trip, according to prosecutors.. “Kabir told Deleon and Santana that he made contacts in Afghanistan and that upon their arrival the three men would join the ‘Students,’ referring to the Taliban, before joining the ‘professors,’ referring to Al-Qaeda,” the trial memo states.

The Los Angeles Times reports that defense attorneys claim federal authorities misinterpreted the men’s actions as threats, and insist that their clients never intended actually to join or assist terrorist groups. “This was a very carefully planned out plot by the government from the investigation stage onwards,” said David Thomas, who represents Deleon. “It was a manufactured prosecution, is our argument. They had their target two years ago and executed.”

A Border Patrol agent recently testified that Santana crossed into the United States in January 2012 after visiting Mexico with his grandmother. Santana brought with him anti-American propaganda, including literature from radical imam Anwar al-Awlaki, and a copy of his jihadist magazine Inspire. Defense attorneys argued that Santana was also carrying unrelated books that explored conspiracy theories.

A significant portion of the trial explored the credibility of the government’s informant, who, records show, has been paid more than $356,645 by the government for his work as an informant for this and other cases. Hammad, the informant, was also a defendant in a 2002 federal criminal drug case. The Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (LA-CAIR) claims that Hammad, like many other informants, had been used to entrap defendants. “We understand when informants are important to use, but when they become agent-provocateurs, that becomes a problem,” said Fatima Dadabhoy, senior civil rights lawyer for LA-CAIR, adding that “we’ve seen other communities targeted by the FBI with informants sent into communities and mosques. I think what’s important about not just this case but this issue in general is to make sure that when we are doing terrorism cases, we’re not using improper tactics.”