-Caveat Lector-
"Federal appeals court said Abdel-Rahman crossed the line beyond freedom
of speech by telling a defendant that it was his duty to bomb the United
Nations.
" `While the state may not criminalize the expression of views, it may
outlaw verbal encouragement, inducement, or conspiracy to take violent
action,' the court ruled.
Court Upholds Colonial-Era Charge
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - A life prison term for a radical Islamic cleric accused of
plotting with a band of terrorists to blow up New York landmarks and kill
Egypt's president is not too harsh, a federal appeals court ruled.
``To plan the waging of war against the United States is manifestly a
grievous assault on the American people, meriting extremely serious
punishment,'' the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday in upholding
the sentences for Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine of his followers.
The sheik and a second defendant were sentenced to life in prison while the
rest received sentences ranging from 30 years to 57 years.
Although not the first ruling to uphold the constitutionality of a Civil
War-era seditious conspiracy law, Monday's decision demonstrated how the law
can be used to prosecute terrorists. The law makes it illegal to plan to wage
war against the government.
``When one considers the huge scale of death and destruction contemplated by
the defendants as part of their war against the United States, those
sentences are neither plainly unreasonable ... nor unjust,'' the court said.
Abdeen Jabara, a lawyer who has worked on the Egyptian cleric's case, said
Monday it was too early to comment on the ruling.
The appeals court also rejected a defense argument that the sheik was merely
prosecuted for preaching or exercising his First Amendment rights.
Abdel-Rahman was prosecuted because he sought to solicit or persuade others
to commit violent crimes, the appeals court said.
The court said the evidence against Abdel-Rahman showed he crossed the line
beyond expression of unpopular ideas by telling one defendant to carry out an
assassination and another that it was his duty to bomb the United Nations.
``It remains fundamental that while the state may not criminalize the
expression of views, it may nonetheless outlaw encouragement, inducement or
conspiracy to take violent action,'' the court said.
The blind, 61-year-old cleric was sentenced in 1995 to life in prison without
parole. Also sentenced to life was El Sayyid Nosair, who was convicted in
connection with the 1990 assassination of Jewish Defense League founder Rabbi
Meir Kahane.
The trial focused on Kahane's death and on a 1993 plot to assassinate
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and blow up the United Nations, FBI
headquarters and two tunnels and a bridge connecting New Jersey to Manhattan.
Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, called the
appeals court ruling ``an important milestone in the continuing efforts by
this office and the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force to apprehend and
prosecute those who commit and plot to commit terrorist acts to the fullest
extent that our laws allow.''
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