'HELP THE NEEDY': FEDS INSINUATE TERRORIST CONNECTION

In a bail hearing for Ayman Jarwan, a defendant in the case, prosecutors made the following moves, according to an article in the Syracuse Post-Standard:

[Asst. U.S. Attorney] West urged the court to consider reports that terrorists were planning to detonate a "dirty bomb" designed to spread radioactive material.

Jarwan has academic degrees in nuclear and radiological engineering, West said, adding: "This man knows how to use and has access to this material."

Agents found excerpts of a published interview with Sheikh Safar al-Hawali in Jarwan's apartment, West said. Al-Hawali, a radical Saudi Arabian cleric, advocated war with the West in the interview, the prosecutor said.

"Although these are not (Jarwan's) own words, the fact that he has it and kept it suggests he might subscribe to those views," West said.

That claim bothered [Judge] Peebles. "Have we come to the point in this country where we are willing to detain a person based on what they may read?" Peebles asked.

"I reject that because he holds advanced degrees or reads radical material, he's a danger," Peebles ruled.

Prosecutors have said they know of no link between Help the Needy and terrorists. [. . .]

McGraw [Jarwan's lawyer] said it was irresponsible of West to present Jarwan's education as evidence he posed a threat.

"It just raises the level of prejudice," he said. "It will be difficult to get a fair trial when there are those implicit suggestions that he's a terrorist because he has a degree."

So possession of radical literature and advanced degrees makes you a threat, even though there's no evidence of a terrorist link whatsoever? "Have we come this far?" indeed.