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Scary man in handcuffs<\/div>\n

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Two Albany, NY muslim leaers pleaded not guilty<\/a> this week to charges they took part in a plot to kill the Pakistani ambassador to the US. The plot itself didn\u2019t exist \u2013 it was an FBI sting operation that allegedly had Imam Yassin Muhiddin Aref of Albany\u2019s Masjid as-Salam and mosque co-founder Mohammed Mosharref Hossain agreeing to transfer funds to allow the informant to purchase a rocket launcher for use in the attack. Other evidence used in the arrest included money transfers to Iraqi relatives (\u201c Mosque Man Wired Cash<\/a>!\u201d screams the New York Post) and that the Mosque Man\u2019s name was found in an address book found in an Iraqi \u201cterror camp\u201d (as is George W. Bush\u2019s, probably). Not surprisingly, their attorney, Terence L. Kindlon, considers it all to be entrapment<\/a> (\u201cIt was clearly an attempt to entrap two individuals in criminal conduct.\u201d). Even Pakistani officials expressed alarm<\/a> that their US ambassador was a proposed target in the sting. \u201cThis has increased our ambassador\u2019s and our mission\u2019s vulnerability \u2026 and could have endangered the life of our ambassador,\u201d said embassy spokesman Masood Khan. While five of the six degrees of separation from terror were simulated by the FBI, it wouldn\u2019t be the first time that a Muslim leader has willingly filled in the blanks<\/a> (although it also wouldn\u2019t be the first time that charges were trumped up<\/a>, either). Aref maintained that he thought any missile talk was \u201c all a joke<\/a>,\u201d although evidence shown in court included the defendants looking at the informant posing with a real rocket launcher<\/a> (er, you got a permit for that?). \u201cWhether or not it was (entrapment) is up to a jury to decide,\u201d said US District Court Judge David Homer, who denied bail to the two suspects. \u201cBut the object of conspiracy (the surface-to-air missile) was clearly known to both defendants.\u201d Perhaps, but after Deputy Attorney General James Comey, when announcing the arrests, conceded that they did not amount to \u201cthe crime of the century\u201d Kindlon added, \u201cIt is not even the crime of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.\u00a0 He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n

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