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Following are excerpts from a TV report on the welcome received by Sheik Muhammad Al-Muayyad and his aide, Muhammad Zayed, back in Sana’a, after a U.S. federal appeals court overturned their convictions on charges of financing terrorism. The report aired on Al-Jazeera TV on August 11, 2009.
Reporter: This is how Sheik Muhammad Al-Muayyad and his aide, Muhammad Zayed, were welcomed back in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. Thousands gathered along the roadside, carrying signs and chanting slogans, to express joy at his return, after being released [from a U.S. prison]. In January 2003, Sheik Al-Muayyad was lured by a U.S. intelligence agent in Germany, and from there, he was transferred to America, where he was sentenced to 75 years in prison, and his aide to 45 years, on charges of financing the Hamas movement and terrorist organizations.
After more than six years in prison, the defense team reached an agreement with the U.S. prosecution, according to which the man would plead guilty to the charge, and in exchange, his prison term would correspond to the time he served.
[...]
Sheik Muhammad Al-Muayyad: May Allah reward the people responsible for our release from prison, and may Allah greatly reward the people who supported us.
Reporter: The Yemeni public, as well as the official institutions, heave rejected all the measures taken against Sheik Al-Muayyad and his aide, Zayed. The president of Yemen, Ali Abdallah Saleh, received Sheik Al-Muayyad and expressed complete solidarity with him.
[...]
The compromise and the return of Sheik Al-Muayyad and his aide did not prevent legal and civil organizations from talking about compensating the man for the injustice inflicted upon him, and about the need for the U.S. to acknowledge that it had made a mistake.
[...]
Supporter: He was forced to confess that he had meant to support Hamas. This is not a crime according to our law, and he did not commit this “crime” on U.S. soil.
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