The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York Oct. 2 overturned the convictions of Yemeni cleric Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad and assistant Mohammed Zayed because of evidentiary errors that deprived the defendants of a fair trial. Al-Moayad and Zayed were convicted in March 2005 on charges that they lead a terror-funding network based in Brooklyn. At their convictions, both maintained that additional evidence on government surveillance recordings would have showed they were not guilty. During their appeal, Al-Moayad and Zayed argued that they had been entrapped by government informants and presented character witnesses who said neither of the two condoned violence and that they had spoken out against terrorist acts. (Jurist, Oct. 3)

See our last posts on Yemen and specious terrorism cases.