Mohamed Alanssi
PER
Mohamed Alanssi Alanssi
The prosecutors also cast new light on the role of the government informer, a Yemeni named Mohamed Alanssi, who set himself on fire in front of the White House in November 2004, apparently to protest his handling by F.B.I. agents. Mr. Alanssi was a witness in the case in Brooklyn that convicted a Yemeni sheik, Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, of financing terrorism. Mr. Hou said that the confidential source the defense has identified as Mr. Alanssi was the one who first identified Mr. Farhane to the F.B.I. in the weeks after 9/11. Starting in December 2001, Mr. Alanssi secretly recorded a series of conversations with Mr. Farhane, many of them at his Brooklyn bookstore. The prosecutors cast new light yesterday on the role of the government informer, a Yemeni named Mohamed Alanssi, who set himself on fire in front of the White House in November 2004, apparently to protest his handling by F.B.I. agents. Mr. Alanssi was a witness in the case in Brooklyn last year that convicted a Yemeni sheik, Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, of financing terrorism. Mr. Hou said that "the confidential source", whom the defense has identified as Mr. Alanssi, first identified Mr. Farhane to the F.B.I. in the weeks after 9/11 as having radical views of Islam. Starting in December 2001, Mr. Alanssi secretly recorded a series of conversations with Mr. Farhane, many of them at his Brooklyn bookstore.