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Haouari

By Phil Hirschkorn
CNN Producer

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A federal jury Friday found Mokhtar Haouari guilty of supporting a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport around New Year's 2000.

Haouari, 32, an Algerian-born Montreal shopkeeper, was found guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist act for helping fellow Algerian national Ahmed Ressam, 34, in a plan to detonate a suitcase bomb at the Los Angeles airport.

But Haouari was acquitted of a second terrorism charge of aiding and abetting a terrorist act. Jurors said the government failed to prove that Haouari knew what Ressam was planning to do in the United States.

"There was no evidence that he knew Ressam was going to be a bomber," one juror said.

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The jury also found Haouari guilty of four counts of bank, credit card, and document fraud. The panel of nine women and three men spent one day and one hour in deliberations.

U.S. District Court Judge John Keenan scheduled sentencing for October 17. Haouari faces a maximum of 50 years in prison.

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"He was extremely upset," said Haouari's attorney, Daniel Ollen. "He thought it was going to be 'not guilty' on ... both terrorism counts."

"This prosecution is an important demonstration of law enforcement's resolve to bring to justice every level of participant in terrorism," U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said in a written statement.

The millennium bomb plot collapsed on December 14, 1999, when Ressam, trying to cross the border by ferry from Canada, was arrested after he fled a routine inspection at a U.S. entry point near Seattle. Agents found explosive materials and homemade timing devices in the trunk of his rented sedan.

Until this trial, neither Ressam nor the government had publicly disclosed that the target was the Los Angeles airport.

Prosecutors said Haouari supported the plot by loaning Ressam roughly $2,000 ($3,000 Canadian) and making a fake Canadian driver's license for him under the alias "Mario Roig." They also said Haouari planned to make a fake Algerian passport for Ressam so he could flee after the bombing.

Prosecutors said Haouari further aided the plot by arranging for an Algerian friend, Abdelghani Meskini, 33, to assist Ressam upon his arrival in Seattle. Meskini fit Ressam's specifications as someone who spoke English, could drive a car, and was not well known in the Muslim community, according to testimony.

Both Ressam and Meskini testified against Haouari under cooperation agreements with the government to reduce their own prison sentences. Ressam faced a maximum 130-year sentence after his conviction in April; he could now receive as little as 27 years in prison. Meskini, a Brooklyn resident and originally Haouari's codefendant, pleaded guilty in March. He also had testified against Ressam.

Ressam said he never explicitly told Haouari the purpose of his trip to the United States, but did describe it as "important and dangerous business."

"I did not tell him precisely and I did not give him the target," Ressam testified.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Baker told jurors in her closing argument, "The defendant must have figured out Ressam planned to bomb something in the United States."

But the jury did not agree.

Jury foreman Christopher Lofting said there was no proof Haouari knew what Ressam would do. "What was he up to? Was he going down there for a bank stickup? To collect money for jihad?" he said.

Lofting said the jurors did not find Haouari knew that Ressam planned to target a building or property "by fire or explosion," as required under the law.

"The last checkoff was, had he aided and abetted a known bomber or just aided and abetted a friend?" said juror Gary Kibble. "You actually have Ressam who said he'd never told Haouari about the bombs. So now we have direct counter-evidence from a government witness."

The jurors said they were able to convict on the first terrorism count because they believed Haouari "consciously avoided" confirming the plot's details. The judge had told them if there was a "high probability" Haouari was aware of Ressam's goals, that could constitute knowledge of terrorism.

"He should have known, given the reputation of the people he was dealing with," Lofting said. "On the other hand, did he actually know there was going to be a bomb blow up and where it was and what it was targeting? The evidence simply was not there," Lofting said.

Ressam testified Haouari knew he had experienced explosives and weapons training in 1998 at Islamic militant camps inside Afghanistan. Meskini testified he told Haouari he wanted to go to the camps, too, which is why Haouari recommended him to Ressam.

Both Ressam and Meskini said they discussed "jihad" with Haouari and shared the view that the United States was "the biggest enemy of Islam."

Haouari's bringing together of Ressam and Meskini also made him a party to the conspiracy, jurors said.

Haouari and Meskini had engaged in a string of credit card and counterfeit check schemes, according to Meskini and government evidence. Prosecutors also claimed Haouari trafficked in fake and stolen passport and identification cards.

"The trail was as wide as the Hudson River," said Lofting, of the fraud charges.

The defense attorney, Ollen, repeated his view of Haouari that he stated during closing arguments: "He's a criminal but not a terrorist."

"It takes many participants and many forms of assistance for a terrorist plot to succeed," said White, the U.S. attorney. "This guilty verdict should make crystal clear that the full measure of the law will be brought to bear on anyone who provides support or assistant to a terrorist act."