ALBANY – A key component to a case against two Albany Muslims who were charged with terrorism-related crimes was placed in doubt yesterday after federal officials admitted they had misinterpreted an Arab phrase they thought had meant “commander.”
The U.S. Justice Department had originally declared Yassin Aref, the imam of an Albany mosque, a threat to the community after the Pentagon said his name, with a Kurdish-language word interpreted to mean “commander” next to it, was found in an address book in a possible terror camp in Iraq.
But in a letter to U.S. Magistrate David Homer this week, U.S. Attorney Glenn Suddaby admitted the word in the book actually meant “brother.”
The world “important” was also listed near his name in Kurdish, according to the letter.
Aref’s lawyer, Terry Kindlon, noted that Aref, an Iraqi refugee, still has family in his native country.
Kindlon said he will use the new evidence to immediately try to spring his client from jail after he was ordered held without bail last week.