Ex-Intel engineer guilty of aiding terrorists
Posted on August 7, 2003
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Portland Man Strikes Plea Deal on Terror Charges
A software engineer pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of aiding the Taliban (search), agreeing to testify against other suspects in exchange for the dropping of other terrorism charges.
Maher “Mike” Hawash (search), one of the so-called “Portland Seven,” will serve at least seven years in federal prison under the deal, which was approved by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
This generated a lot of media coverage when he was first arrested and prompted a very strong movement to have him released that ultimately culminated in the creation of the Free Mike Hawash website. That site now contains the message:
Aug 6: Mike pled guilty today to one count of his three-count indictment. He admitted attempting to enter Afghanistan with members of the “Portland 6″. We hope that justice has been served, and our focus now shifts to support for Mike’s family in this difficult time.