ZIYAD YAGHI

Sentencing
Oct. 13th, 2011
Ziyad Yaghi has been found guilty of conspiring to commit jihad overseas and providing material support to terrorists. He is set to be sentenced in approximately 90 days. He faces life in prison.

Who is Ziyad Yaghi?
Born on January 22, 1988 in Jordan after his parents left Upstate New York for a job overseas, Ziyad Yaghi is a 23-year old Muslim American citizen of Palestinian descent. His parents returned to Upstate New York when he was about 2-years old. When Ziyad was about 3-years old, he moved to North Carolina with his mother, Laila Yaghi, and his brother. He has been residing in the East District of North Carolina ever since.

Ziyad is known as a kind and gentle person by family, friends and colleagues. He is always known to be giving money to the homeless and any one that asks him for money. When someone asks Ziyad for money, it is said that Ziyad will give him or her the last dollar in his pocket. Unfortunately, even before his trial has started, the FBI and media have depicted Ziyad as someone evil when in reality he’s known to be the contrary: soft, gentle and caring.

His Case
Known in the media as the “North Carolina 7,” on July 27, 2009 Mr. Yaghi, with six others (Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39 aka “Seifullah” who is considered the head ringleader and the FBI’s main target; Hysen Sherifi, 24; Anes Subasic, 33; Zakariya Boyd, 20; Dylan Boyd, 22; Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 23; the whereabouts of the eighth man Jude Kenan Mohammad, 20, unknown), was arrested in Wake County North Carolina by the FBI and he has been accused of attempting to commit terrorism abroad by the United States government, in an indictment which appears to be based on an incorrect premise, namely that the US seek to infer that trips he took abroad were part of a terrorist conspiracy.

Ziyad visited Jordan in 2006, the country of his birth and on his way back to the United States. Additionally, in June of 2007, he and Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan took a trip to Tel Aviv, Israel to visit Masjid Al-Aqsa, the third most sacred place of worship for Muslims and the West Bank, considering Mr. Yaghi’s Palestinian heritage, but were denied entry.  However, the US indictment claims Ziyad’s intention in his travels to Jordan and Israel was to seek armed conflict.  

As the mother of Ziyad Yaghi (Ms. Laila Yaghi) states:

“Soon after their trip overseas, the FBI was knocking on my door and asking me questions. When Ziyad and his friend came back, they were constantly harassed and watched by the FBI.

Before Ziyad and his friend went to Jordan they knew a specific person of interest to the FBI for a short while, then when they came back and had no contact with this person, the FBI continued to harass my son and his friend and they tried to pressure them to say something, even though Ziyad and his friend had nothing to say. Both boys insisted that they didn’t know anything personal about the person the FBI were conducting an investigation on and couldn’t understand what the FBI was looking for!

Two years later, a simple fight broke between the boys and one of the friends of Ziyad. The FBI made it sound so horrendous and tried to charge Ziyad and his friend with many things and threw them in jail. The FBI came once more to my door and asked me more questions and then one of them told me that he wants the boys in jail because he wants them to feel more pressured to tell them something about the individual the FBI have been inquiring about earlier. Again that same name was mentioned and the boys stayed in jail almost four months and when the FBI found that there is nothing against these boys that could prove what they were looking for, my son and his friend were released.” 
(FreeZiyadYaghi.blogspot.com)

Official Website
www.freeziyadyaghi.blogspot.com