NEW YORK (AP) -- A man who set himself on fire in front of the White House this week was a key witness against a sheik accused of funneling millions of dollars to al-Qaida and the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas, defense lawyers said Tuesday.
Defense attorneys said Mohamed Alanssi is a confidential informant central to the prosecution of Sheik Ali Hassan al-Moayad, a leading member of an Islamic-oriented political party in Yemen who is awaiting trial in federal court in New York. He and his assistant allegedly conspired to provide material support to Osama bin Laden and the Hamas.
Alanssi sent suicide notes Monday morning to his FBI handler and a Washington Post reporter, complaining about his treatment by the government and threatening that he would burn himself in an "unexpected place."
Federal prosecutors and the FBI declined to comment on the case. But attorneys for al-Moayad and his co-defendant, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, said Tuesday they believe the government case was seriously weakened by the incident and Alanssi's suicide notes. The newspaper published Alanssi's letters on its Web site.
Alanssi, a 52-year-old Virginia resident, wrote to FBI agent Robert Fuller in New York complaining that the agent had ignored Alanssi's request to visit his ailing wife and family in Yemen. He threatened not to testify against al-Moayad as a result. He wrote the Post that he was afraid the government might jail and torture him if he stopped cooperating.
I've edited the forgoing, snipping out whole paragraphs, but it's from the Associated Press and I'm certain that you can find the whole article yourself.