Amoudi’s lawyer says his client feels a great deal of remorse

By Mustafa Abd ElHaleem, IOL Staff

CAIRO, August 1 (IslamOnline.net) – American Muslims reacted with mixed fear and anger after prominent activist Abdel-Rahman Al-Amoudi had pleaded guilty before US investigators to the involvement in a Libyan plot to assassinate the Saudi Crown Prince.

Muslim activists expected the seven million community members could also feel the pinch of the Friday admission, given the heavyweight status Amoudi had enjoyed partially due to his links with ruling administrations.

"Amoudi appeared to me and many other Muslims a passionate and emotionally excitable man with honest impressive history," a Washington-based Muslim activist, told IslamOnline.net over the phone Saturday, July 31, but asked not to be named.

"Now I feel betrayed, shocked by reports of his pleading guilty," he said.

Amoudi, the founder of the American Muslim Council and president of the American Muslim Federation, admitted Friday, July 30, to being involved in a Libyan plot to assassinate Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz and illegally visiting and making financial transactions with Tripoli.

"He feels a great deal of remorse, pain, and that [the case] will do a great deal of disservice to the community here," his lawyer, Stanley Cohen, told IOL.

Cohen said Amoudi faces a hard time in prison and fears that his case might be misused to target the Muslim community.

The US Justice Department said in a statement that Amoudi agreed to plead guilty to three criminal violations "relating to his activities in the United States and abroad with nations and organizations that have ties to terrorism and his participation in a plot to assassinate an ally in the war against terror".

The charges were unlicensed travel to and commerce with Libya , making false statements on an immigration form and tax offenses designed to conceal his transactions with Libya from the US Internal Revenue Service, it added.

Amoudi had earlier dismissed charges against him as "politically motivated" fabrications.

Domino Effect

Salama Al-Miryati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said anti-Muslim groups in the United States could misuse Amoudi’s case.

"Anti-Muslim groups will definitely take this to their own purpose," Miryati told IOL over phone.

Miryati warned that American Muslim organizations could be affected by the arrest of such a prominent activist.

He called on them to depend on funds donated by American Muslims and abandon finances from abroad to cast away doubts.

Miryati also expected the flood of reports on Amoudi’s case to stoke up hate crimes against Muslims, which are already growing since the 9/11 attacks.

Since 9/11, American Muslims complained about a mounting backlash including death threats, physical and verbal assaults, hate mails, arsons and vandalism of mosques, Islamic schools and cultural centers.

Muslims in the United States have been exposed to more than 1,000 incidents of violence, discrimination, profiling, or harassment during 2003, according to a report released last May by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

"Impressed"

Amoudi’s family living in the United States said its members had "received threats" after the Libyan plot on the life of Prince Abdullah was disclosed.

His lawyer Cohen said Amoudi was, however, "ignorant" of some aspects of the case.

His personal advisor Ashraf Nubai had also said: "Amoudi does not want to kill anyone".

"Many of those who had met Amoudi were impressed by his own views which he has the guts to declare in public," said a Cairo-based Arab American journalist.

According to the Justice Department statement, Amoudi made at least 10 trips to Libya and met with government officials there.

During one such meeting in March 2003 they discussed creating "headaches and disruptions" in Saudi Arabia. 

"As the scheme continued, however, Amoudi learned that the actual objective of the scheme was the assassination of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah," the statement said.

Reduced Term

The cooperation agreement with US prosecutors will allow Amoudi to get reduced sentence on the remaining charges, which carry 23 years in jail.

"He is cooperating candidly with the US investigators, this is the agreement, in exchange for reduced term consideration," said Cohen.

Cohen said charges against Amoudi were reduced from 34 to only three.

The lawyer denied pressures on Amoudi to make the deal or submit the confession, saying: "pressures were from his own".

"There is absolute evidence against him, so there is no legal defense," he added, refusing to expect how many years the sentence would be reduced.

"There was just a promise."