Wednesday, 18 April 2012 14:05

Written by Amiin

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Thirteen natives of Somalia and Yemen are on trial in federal court, accused of smuggling a drug common to their homelands but illegal in the U.S.

Authorities allege that for six years, the group smuggled millions of dollars’ worth of khat, a leaf that is popular in the region around Somalia and Yemen and can produce a mild high when chewed.

While a few defendants, including the two alleged ringleaders, have pleaded guilty, most of the accused are fighting the charges and going to trial. Jury selection began Tuesday; the trial is expected to at least three weeks.

The legal case may turn on technicalities, but it also presents a broader question of whether the government engaged in overkill by prosecuting otherwise law-abiding members of the Somali- and Yemeni-American communities for using a substance that is culturally accepted in their homelands and by some measures is no more potent than a caffeinated energy drink.

Prosecuting khat can be difficult for the government. Technically, khat itself is not illegal, but it’s the active ingredients in the leaf, cathine and cathinone that are controlled substances. Cathinone particularly is treated as a serious drug under federal law.

But cathinone is unstable and known to deteriorate rapidly after khat is harvested, often within 48 hours. Appellate courts have said that transporting khat itself is not a violation unless the government can prove that the khat actually contains either of the controlled substances.

In court papers, prosecutors have emphasized that the conspiracy took pains to rapidly import fresh khat once it was harvested because the conspirators knew that fresh khat was prized by users for providing a superior effect. But defense lawyers have challenged the government’s evidence as insufficient.

“The government must produce evidence of cathinone and not attempt to confuse and confound the jury by treating ‘khat’ and ‘cathinone’ as synonyms,” wrote defense lawyer Bruce Cooper, representing defendant Harun Salhan.

More broadly, defense lawyers and family members of the accused have complained privately that the government’s pursuit of the case is excessive and targets low-level users for whom use of khat is culturally acceptable. And some question whether khat use is a serious problem. In court papers, one defense lawyer presented medical evidence that khat use is no more dangerous than an energy drink.

Last Updated on Monday, 26 March 2012 21:10 Monday, 26 March 2012 20:57

Written by Amiin

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A 32-year-old Iraqi woman has died in the US after being found beaten and lying in a pool of blood next to a note saying “go back to your country, you terrorist.”

Shaima Alawadi, a mother of five children ranging in age from 8 to 17, was found unconscious by her eldest daughter on the dining room floor of her home in the city of El Cajon in San Diego County, California on Wednesday. 

Alawadi was taken to the hospital and put on life support, but she was taken off life support around 3 p.m. Saturday. 

“Our understanding is that she was beaten and she was hit with some kind of a tool about 8 times in the head. She was knocked on the floor and was found in a pool of blood,” said Hanif Mohebi, the director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. 

There is a large Iraqi population in El Cajon, Mohebi said, and its members often face “discriminatory hate incidents.” 

“A week ago they left a letter saying this is our country not yours you terrorist, and so my mom ignored that thinking it was just kids playing a prank,” Alawadi’s daughter, Fatima Al Himidi said. “But the day they hit her, they left another note again, and it said the same thing.” 

“A hate crime is one of the possibilities, and we will be looking at that,” El Cajon police Lieutenant Mark Coit said. “We don’t want to focus on only one issue and miss something else.” 

Iraq's foreign minister said on Monday that Alawadi’s body will be flown to Baghdad while lawmakers across Iraq demanded a thorough investigation. 

“The government has ordered to transport her body from California to Baghdad,” Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said. 

"We deplore this hideous crime that took place in a country that calls itself the land of democracy, freedoms and freedom of religious. The parliament will take a serious position on this. Iraqi Foreign Affairs Ministry must now officially ask the US Embassy and the Department of State for more details on this hideous crime," said Aliyah Nisayef, a female Iraqi lawmaker. 

Hayder Al-Zayadi, a family friend, told the Free-Press that Alawadi moved to the United States in 1993 with her family and was part of a wave of Shia Muslim refugees who fled to Michigan after Saddam Hussein cracked down on an uprising in 1991. 

After living in Dearborn for a few years, she moved to the San Diego area in 1996, graduated from high school and became a housewife raising five children, Al-Zayadi said. 

HMV/AZ/HGH

Source Press tv