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U.S. Admits It Erred in Albany Terror Case

HeadlineAug 18, 2004

An Albany, the government has admitted to a judge that it incorrectly translated a key document that was used as evidence to back the arrest of two local Muslim leaders. According to the Albany Times Union, the government Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain in part because it found a notebook in a Kurdish camp in Iraq that identified Aref as a “commander.” But now the government has admitted that the Army mistranslated the contents of the notebook. What they thought was the Arabic word for “commander” was actually the Kurdish word for “brother.” Aref and Hossain have been charged with aiding a government informant in a sting operation involving a fake plot to buy a shoulder-fired missile to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat. The government claims their case remains strong despite the mistranslation. But Aref’s lawyer, Terence Kindlon, said the error is emblematic of deeper problems in the government’s case, and that his client would seek a new bail hearing. Kindlon said, “It looks to be a two-bit frame-up. I suspect that there is something political driving this.”

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