Oussama Kassir fick avslag på överklagan

Den svenske medborgaren Oussama Kassir, som är dömd i USA till livstids fängelse för terroristbrott, fick avslag på sin överklagan. Högre instans fastslog domen på onsdagen.

AP:

A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of a Lebanese-born Swede who was sentenced to life in prison for plotting to open a terrorism training camp in Oregon to help al-Qaida.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Wednesday issued an order finding that Oussama Kassir had a fair trial when he was convicted in 2009 of supporting al-Qaida by trying to help open the camp in Bly, Ore., a tiny community of just a few hundred residents.

Prosecutors said Kassir, who's in his 40s, tried to set up the camp in late 1999 and early 2000 so al-Qaida could take advantage of relaxed U.S. gun laws and train European recruits for Islamic militancy. They said he "trained men to become terrorists on American soil," provided lessons on how to alter an assault rifle so it could launch a grenade and told witnesses in Bly he supported Osama bin Laden.

[...]

At sentencing in September 2009, Kassir told a judge that witnesses had lied at his trial. He also said the jury couldn't have adequately studied the evidence because the deliberations lasted only two hours.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected arguments that the trial judge erred by admitting evidence that was irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial and by letting a terrorism expert testify about the history of al-Qaida. The appeals court also rejected arguments that evidence was insufficient and the law used to convict was overly broad, was unconstitutionally vague and infringed on First Amendment rights.