Jailed Albany terror plot defendant seeks early release...
still image from a surveillance videotape shows a man wielding an inert, inoperable shoulder fired rocket launcher to suspects in a federal terrorism sting in Albany in volving Mohammed Hossain, and Yassin Aref.
A surveillance videotape showing Mohammed Hossain, left, and Yassin Aref during an FBI sting operation involving the purchase of an inoperable shoulder fired rocket launcher. (U.S. Attorney's Office / Times Union archive)
ALBANY - The COVID-19 pandemic is adding more urgency to efforts by supporters of Albany pizza maker Mohammed Hossain to be released early from his 15-year federal prison sentence on terrorism charges.
Hossain, 65, has been pleading with federal prison authorities and prosecutors to allow for his early release after completing most of his 15-year sentence. He is scheduled for early release in July but has petitioned to be released immediately due to chronic health conditions, including kidney failure.
Now add fears over COVID-19 infection to his reasons for wanting to get out of a federal prison in Springfield, Mo. immediately and coming home to his family in Albany where he intends to use private health insurance to pay for his medical care.
"The attempts to address Mr. Hossain's health conditions have been unsuccessful, risk further deterioration, and present life-threatening susceptibilities if exposed to COVID-19," Hossain's public defender Molly Corbett wrote in a March 26 filing in U.S. District Court in Albany.
State and federal prisons have increasingly become COVID-19 hotspots across the country, with some seeking early prisoner release as a solution to stop the spread.
Hossain's attorney and supporters have argued that Hossain is no danger to the public upon his release. He was convicted of being part of a fake money-laundering scheme orchestrated by FBI informant Shahed Hussain, who posed as a wealthy businessman and enlisted the help of Hossain and the leader of an Albany mosque in a fake plot to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat in New York City. The mosque leader, Yassin Aref, has since been released from prison and was deported to his native Iraq. The trial took place in Albany in 2006 with FBI informant Hussain the star witness.
Hussain, a motel and limo operator who is now living in Pakistan, was the owner of the stretch Ford Excursion involved in the 2018 limo crash in Schoharie that killed 20 people. He also worked as an undercover informant for the FBI, participating in anti-terrorism stings in Albany and Newburgh in which Hussain convinced defendants into participating in fake terrorism plots with promises of money and gifts.
No decision has been made on Hossain's immediate release, which is opposed by federal prosecutors.
Follow Larry:
Follow Larry:
Larry Rulison has been a reporter for the Albany Times Union since 2005.
His decades-long career in journalism began in 1994 when he was hired as the editor for a small-town upstate New York weekly known as the Canastota Bee-Journal. He later worked at the Fayetteville Eagle Bulletin, the Baldwinsville Messenger and the Adirondack Daily Enterprise in Saranac Lake. He has covered business since 1998, working for Mutual Fund Market News in Boston and later the Baltimore Business Journal and Philadelphia Business Journal.
Larry's reporting for the Times Union has won several awards for business and investigative journalism from the New York State Associated Press Association and the New York News Publishers Association.
Contact him at (518) 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.