A prominent Yemeni cleric who was jailed in the United States on charges of aiding Hamas returned home Tuesday, where hundreds of people including top government officials gathered to greet him. Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hasan Al-Moayad, 61, and his aide Mohammed Mohsen Zayed, 35, had been held since 2003 and were convicted in 2005 of funnelling funds to Hamas, a Palestinian group that Washington regards as a terrorist organisation. Moayad, member of an opposition party and revered in the poor Arab state for his charity work, was received later by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Hundreds, including supporters of the opposition Islah Party, jostled to shake hands with the cleric and embrace him at a VIP airport hall and scores of cars lined the street leading to the capital Sanaa where he lives. One of the banners carried by the crowd had pictures of Moayed and Zayed and a phrase: “The day of freedom”. They were extradited to the United States after their arrest in Germany in 2003 in a sting operation and convicted in 2005 of aiding Hamas. Moayad was sentenced to 75 years in prison and Zayed to 45 years at the time. A federal appeals court threw out the verdict and ordered a new trial late last year, saying inflammatory evidence may have prejudiced the jury. The two men's terrorism conviction was overturned and they were sentenced to time served for the charge after they pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid Hamas in a deal with prosecutors. US prosecutors said the two told a federal informant posing as an American businessman they would help funnel money to Hamas. The informant in the case was Mohamed Alanssi, who set himself on fire in front of the White House in 2004 to protest against his treatment by federal authorities.
