Cleric gets 75 years for al-Qaida aid plot

NEW YORK – A federal judge vividly raised the terror of Sept. 11, 2001, as he hit an ailing Yemeni cleric with a 75-year prison sentence for plotting to aid al-Qaida and Hamas.

Despite pleading with the court to consider his charitable works in Yemen and his illnesses, Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, 57, was given the maximum sentence by Judge Sterling Johnson Jr.

Johnson said it will always be an open question about whether any of the $20 million the defendant allegedly bragged about giving terrorist chief Osama bin Laden actually was used in the attacks on the World Trade Center and elsewhere.

Al-Moayad and his aide Mohammed Zayed, 31, were convicted in March of conspiring to aid Hamas and al-Qaida. Al-Moayad was also convicted of providing aid to Hamas but acquitted of giving similar assistance to al-Qaida.

Zayed wasn’t sentenced because he had not read a translation of an 18-page pre-sentencing report. He will be sentenced Sept. 1.

In addition to what is a life sentence for Al-Moayad, who has hepatitis, diabetes and other problems, Johnson saddled him with a $1.2 million fine.

Al-Moayad protested for about 15 minutes before he was sentenced. He said he had spent his life helping the poor through acts of charity.

“I do all of these things for God,” Al-Moayad said through a translator. “I don’t have anything against American people.”