Alajji, a truck driver, was arrested December 19. Federal cops said they had received "tips" from an estranged brother-in-law and unnamed informers that Alajji was planning a terrorist attack in Michigan. The brother-in-law later "recanted" his claims, authorities said.

While the government jailed him saying they were investigating his alleged ties to "terrorism," prosecutors presented no evidence for such charges. They then attempted to pin Social Security fraud charges on Alajji by saying the Yemen-born man applied for two Social Security cards in 1995 and a duplicate card in 1999, using slightly different spellings of his last name.

At the preliminary hearing, federal prosecutors attempted to paint the defendant as a scheming criminal intent on defrauding the government by obtaining benefits he was not eligible for or by selling one of the cards on the black market. No evidence of fraud or intent to commit fraud was presented, however, even though the standard of proof commonly used in preliminary hearings of this kind is very low. U.S. officials were surprised the judge threw out the case because federal judges usually rule in favor of prosecutors in such preliminary exams.

In his ruling, Judge Pepe said it would be impossible to expect even a lifelong U.S. citizen to navigate the complex Social Security law. He ruled that no grounds existed to bring charges against Alajji and ordered his immediate release.

Government officials and the big-business media branded Alajji as holding "anti-American" and "radical Islamic" views.

"Even assuming he [Alajji] adheres to the most radical beliefs, it seems to me in this nation that citizens or aliens are able to speak their beliefs freely unless those beliefs could incite some action of significant harm," Pepe ruled.

Prosecutors are now reportedly considering convening a grand jury to bring indictments against Alajji.  
 
Frame-up methods
The Alajji case exposed some of the methods the FBI and other federal police have used in "terrorism" frame-up campaigns. The December 24 Detroit News reported that a "confidential informant" had told federal cops Alajji had attended a "conference" prior to Sept. 11, 2001, at an "unknown" location and brought back audio tapes titled "Jihad against America." According to court documents, the snitch told government investigators that Alajji considered Christians and Jews "despicable unbelievers."

After a cop raid of Alajji’s house, a government spokesman said federal agents had found "numerous documents" and "literally thousands of audio tapes, which appear to be in Arabic, of discussions which concern topics mainly discussed and supported by those who are adherents to more extremist sects of Islam."

In an affidavit presented to the court, the government asserted that "Alajji and four other Yemeni males would gather on Saturdays to listen to the tapes and discuss their hatred of America. Their complaints focused around the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia."

FBI agents interrogated Alajji on Oct. 4, 2001, but neither arrested him nor charged him with any crime. A few weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, Alajji had quit a job of three years at an auto-parts factory near Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was alleged to have told co-workers, "I need to go to my country." In face of intense government harassment of the large Arab community here in Detroit and neighboring Dearborn following the World Trade Center attacks, as well as a rise in acts of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry, it was not uncommon for immigrants there to consider returning to their country of origin.

Another claim used by the cops to paint Alajji as a dangerous individual was the report that after he quit, a coworker told police she found a drawing of the World Trade Center attack near his workstation. Alajji denied making the drawing.

During the hearing, the courtroom was filled with family members and supporters of Alajji. He was supported by Michigan’s American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and represented by the committee’s counsel, Nabih Ayad.  
 
 
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