Masjid As-Salam
Albany, NY
In 2006 Yassin Aref, then imam of the Masjid As-Salam mosque in Albany, and Mohammed Hossain, the mosque's founder,[1] were both convicted of conspiring "to conceal the source of what a cooperator represented to be proceeds from the sale of a surface-to-air missile" to be used by a terrorist against a target in New York City.[2] An indictment filed in 2004 specified that Aref and Hossain were involved in the conspiracy between December 2003 and August 2004.[3] The criminal complaint refers to Aref as an imam at the Masjid As Salam mosque in Albany, NY and at one point even mentions that Aref once had to make a trip to the mosque because he had "left everything there," referring to materials for a financial transaction to be made as part of the conspiracy.[4] The president of Masjid As-Salam, Shamshad Ahmad, has since authored a book about injustices against Muslim in the post 9/11 period. The book defends Aref and proceeds from the book go to the Aref Education Fund, established by Ahmed to provide educational needs for Aref's children. [5]
[1] Curt Anderson, "FBI Arrests Two in Alleged Missile Scheme," Associated Press, August 5, 2004.
[2] USA v. Aref, 07-0981-CR (L), "Ruling," (United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit July 2, 2008).
[3] USA v. Aref, 04-CR-402, "Indictment," (N.D.N.Y. August 6, 2004).
[4] USA v. Aref, 04-M-330, "Criminal Complaint," (N.DN.Y. August 5, 2004).
[5] "Release of book authored by Shamsad Ahmad, president of Masjid As-Salam," http://masjidassalam.org/default.aspx (accessed July 16, 2010).
See: US v. Aref, Yassin
