Federal judge frees Fla. imam -- a former Marine accused of radicalizing homegrown terrorists

Well...this is kinda odd. The guy is a known radical Muslim who has killed and run gangs before in NY. The prosecutors case must have been REALLY bad to let this one go. Crazy they had a caravan of 7 vehicles of armed marshals escorting this guy to court every time. Seem like overkill, but I guess there was reason for it.

Anywho....he is now out and enjoying freedom. No doubt already planning an attack.....woohooo....go US justice system!

Now....the really JUICY tidbit in here is this quote:

Many of the court’s filings, including Robertson’s own testimony, remain under federal seal, which means only prosecutors, the judge and the defense can review the records. Reporters were locked out of substantial portions of the nearly three days of testimony during the sentencing proceedings, which began in April and ran through June, “due to concerns about disclosure of classified information.”

That’s because as part of his own defense, Robertson testified about his undercover work for the FBI, which reportedly involved documenting terrorists’ plans and networks in Africa, Egypt and the United States.

Robertson, those familiar with the case said, has information that could be potentially dangerous to the U.S. if exposed. The information was acquired along his unlikely journey from U.S. Marine Corps 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company field radio operator, beginning in May 16, 1986, to his status now as founder and imam at the Orlando-based Fundamental Islamic Knowledge Seminary.

Source

So....Robertson was undercover for the FBI documenting terrorist activities and the court records are sealed.

But hey....it's all good y'all!

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Funny, when I read the thread title the first thing I thought was, "that sounds like some manufactured outrage of the likes of Fox news or something."

Sure enough, that's what it appears to be.

From your own source:

Presnell said prosecutors took snippets of information from various sources out of context to make their case that Robertson is a terrorist leader, and never proved their case.

From another source

Robertson, also known as “Abu Taubah,” had been incarcerated since 2011 on charges of tax fraud and illegal gun possession. After his arrest and subsequent conviction on those charges, prosecutors sought to add a terrorism enhancement to his sentence,

Prosecutors singled out roughly 20 titles from the more than 10,000 e-books Robertson owned, highlighted a selection of controversial passages, and used that to argue that he should be sentenced as though he were a terrorist.

Sounds like there wasn't any true grounds for terrorism related charges and that the government tried to manufacture and trump up whatever they could with imaginary out of context connections, which is what prosecutors are known to do.

Basically they tried to label him a terrorist simply from books he had in his possession. That's BS. that's like trying to make someone a white supremacist just because he or she had a copy of mein kampf.

originally posted by: Liquesence
a reply to: Vasa Croe

Funny, when I read the thread title the first thing I thought was, "that sounds like some manufactured outrage of the likes of Fox news or something."

Sure enough, that's what it appears to be.

From your own source:

Presnell said prosecutors took snippets of information from various sources out of context to make their case that Robertson is a terrorist leader, and never proved their case.

From another source

Robertson, also known as “Abu Taubah,” had been incarcerated since 2011 on charges of tax fraud and illegal gun possession. After his arrest and subsequent conviction on those charges, prosecutors sought to add a terrorism enhancement to his sentence,

Prosecutors singled out roughly 20 titles from the more than 10,000 e-books Robertson owned, highlighted a selection of controversial passages, and used that to argue that he should be sentenced as though he were a terrorist.

Sounds like there wasn't any true grounds for terrorism related charges and that the government tried to manufacture and trump up whatever they could with imaginary out of context connections, which is what prosecutors are known to do.

Basically they tried to label him a terrorist simply from books he had in his possession. That's BS. that's like trying to make someone a white supremacist just because he or she had a copy of mein kampf.

Yes...just tried to label him.

Wonder why those records were sealed again? Oh yeah...he was working undercover with the FBI on terrorist activities in 3 countries.....a bit of a different scenario than someone owning a book.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Yes, if he's working undercover those documents would remain sealed for a reason, so that certain things aren't exposed and put other people at risk, like, for instance, other covert operatives or any info they have on terror organizations, which would be given away to said organizations once it was exposed.

Pretty simple to see why they remain sealed.

And that's why it's undercover.

originally posted by: Liquesence
a reply to: Vasa Croe

Yes, if he's working undercover those documents would remain sealed for a reason, so that certain things aren't exposed and put other people at risk, like, for instance, other covert operatives or any info they have on terror organizations, which would be given away to said organizations once it was exposed.

Pretty simple to see why they remain sealed.

And that's why it's undercover.

Yes...thanks I fully understand that. I was pointing out that you are saying it was trumped up charges of him being involved with terrorist organizations by comparing him to someone being called a white supremacist because they owned a book.....this is a bit different.

His records being sealed lend credibility to him having worked undercover with terror organizations. He was the leader of a murderous gang in NY prior to doing this. Are you implying he is a real FBI agent being hung out to dry then?

This sounds to me, and this is pure speculation on my part. Maybe I watch too many movies.

But maybe he was working undercover for the FBI, thinking he was doing good things for his country before learning how screwed up our foreign policy really is.

One thing leads to another, and he decides the Govt can go pound sand. Maybe he pisses off someone in the FBI, so he gets locked up on some BS gun charges and gets the terrorist label based on books they know he owns for research purposes?

Does anyone believe the FBI or justice Dept is above trying something like this?

Just something to think about.

Don't really think it's so much the justice system as it is the prosecutors dropping the ball.

Again.

Doesn't seem like building a case would be all that difficult, so if they mucked it up that's on them. Doesn't sound like the judge was terribly happy with them.

My guess is he'll wind up dead or back in prison by next summer.