3 men convicted in Germany of aiding al-Qaida

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Three Middle Eastern men were convicted Wednesday of aiding al-Qaida in Germany and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3½ to seven years. The Duesseldorf state court convicted Ibrahim Mohamed Khalil, 32, and Yasser Abu Shaweesh, 34, of membership in a terrorist organization and multiple counts of fraud. Ismail Abu Shaweesh, 30, was convicted of the lesser charge of supporting a terrorist organization and fraud. The three were accused of supporting Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization in Germany and raising money for it. Khalil, who lived in the city of Mainz, trained at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan and fought US forces in the country between October 2001 and July 2002, according to the indictment.