Freed Yemeni scholar in hospital – Al Jazeera – August 12, 2009

Freed Yemeni scholar in hospital
Sheikh Mohammed al-Moayad admitted to hospital with acute liver failure.
Last Modified: 12 Aug 2009 21:37 GMT

Published at Al Jazeera English

A Yemeni Islamic scholar freed after six years of imprisonment in the United States on terrorism charges has been taken to hospital with acute liver failure, his son has said.

Sheikh Mohammed al-Moayad returned to Yemen on Tuesday after a US federal court overturned his terrorism conviction.

His son Zakaria said his father was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday and taken to the intensive care unit.

His lawyer, Mohamed Naji Allaw, said he was waiting for approval from Saudi Arabia to be treated there, or in Jordan.

Warm welcome

Al-Moayad received a hero’s welcome from ministers, political leaders, other dignitaries and thousands of people on his arrival in Yemen on Tuesday.

The man was sentenced to 75 years in prison by a US court in 2005 for providing financial support to al-Qaeda and Hamas, after being extradited from Germany where he was arrested two years earlier.

But a US appeals court ordered a retrial last October after overturning the convictions on grounds they were prejudiced by inflammatory testimony from unrelated terrorism cases in the original trial.

He was released after his lawyer struck a plea bargain deal with US prosecutors, sources close to his family said.

Under the agreement, he pleaded guilty to providing aid to Hamas, which is listed among terrorist groups by US government, and was sentenced to six
years time served.