Image courtesy of caIr sacramento Valley
2019 Be a part of Indulge, Sacramento’s premiere dining guide.
COMING Fall 2019
Clearing Hamid Hayat After 13 years, Lodi Muslim-American’s terror conviction is vacated on grounds of inadequate representation by Scott thomaS anderSon
If you want to be a part of Indulge call the Sn&r offIce at (916) 498-1234 Indulge IS a SpecIal SaleS Supplement produced by n&r publIcatIonS.
14
|
SN&R
|
08.08.19
Raheela Hayat gets emotional in front of reporters in downtown Sacramento.
s c o t t a @ne w s re v i ew.c o m
operation while visiting family members in A large gathering of Lodi’s Muslim community Pakistan. stood on the steps of Sacramento’s federal Hayat’s original defense attorney has also courthouse last week, some stoic and others been faulted by legal observers for not calling an fighting tears as it was announced that a terrorexpert witness on false confessions. ism conviction against one of their own had Burrell, a senior judge for the Eastern been vacated after 13 years. District of California, officially vacated The reason: Hamid Hayat’s original defense Hayat’s conviction on July 30. Representatives attorneys had failed to introduce key evidence for U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott have said to support his claim of innocence. their office is reviewing the judge’s ruling. That was the finding of federal Judge Scott’s options are to retry Hayat, or sign off Garland E. Burrell Jr., who recently heard testimony that the international headlines flash- on his release from a federal prison in Phoenix. At the downtown press conference last ing around Hayat’s arrest in 2005 were based week, one of Hayat’s attorneys, Layli on more prosecutorial hype than real Shirani, said she’s hopeful the substance. federal prosecutor will consent The FBI originally claimed “This to releasing her client for good. that a group of men, includcase “We’re here today to turn ing Hayat and his father, traumatized so the page,” Shirani said. were operating an al-Qaeda Basim Elkarra, executive recruitment center out of many.” director of the Council on Lodi. The agents’ initial tip Basim Elkarra American-Islamic Relations’ reportedly came from an executive director, Council on Sacramento Valley chapter, unreliable and inconsistent American-Islamic Relations, said Muslims from across the teenage source within the Sacramento Valley region were also ready to turn West Coast Muslim community. the page. Ultimately, only Hayat was “This case affected the Hayat convicted of a crime. He was found family, the Lodi community, the Stockton guilty of one count of providing material community and a young generation of Muslimsupport to terrorists. Federal prosecutors Americans who saw one of their own convicted alleged this support came via Hayat attending in a post-9/11 world while completely innoan al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2003 cent,” Elkarra said. “This case traumatized so and then lying about it to authorities. At the many.” time, some cable news programs portrayed Speaking to reporters, Raheela Hayat broke Hayat’s arrest as a major example of the FBI down when asked about her older brother’s rooting out a “sleeper cell” in California. experience. A jury convicted Hayat based mainly on “No one can ever pay back the 14 years of his confession. But his current legal team his innocence,” she said through sobs. steadfastly argued that Hayat, then 23, was Turning her message directly to the U.S. pressured into confessing after relentless interattorney, Raheela added, “Please end this now rogation. Furthermore, they have presented and release my brother. … We don’t need Burrell and other federal magistrates with anything else. We just need my brother back testimony from multiple witnesses they claim home with us.” □ proves that Hayat never attended a terrorist