Biography
Hassan Abu-Jihaad was a Navy signalman who disclosed the location of USS Benfold in an online forum. Authorities taped a phone conversation between Abu-Jihaad and an informant, in which Abu-Jihaad spoke in code regarding the movement of naval ships. Abu-Jihaad was a former roommate of Derrick Shareef, who conspired to attack an Illinois shopping mall and was caught in an FBI sting.
Case characteristics: FBI confidential informant, FISA surveillance. Organization referenced in charging documents: Al Qaeda.
Case data and description from The Intercept's Trial and Terror project (Trevor Aaronson and Margot Williams), licensed CC BY-NC. Source: https://github.com/theintercept/trial-and-terror-data
Photo: FedRAP Network; original photographer not identified. Original-image crop; identified by the source (portrait attached to HASSAN ABU-JIHAAD, prisoner 86496-008; name and number match the database). Source: https://fedrap.com/terror . Non-free image used at low resolution under this site's educational/memorial fair-use rationale; not an open-license or permission claim.
A January 24, 2008 memorandum by Judge Mark R. Kravitz states that Hassan Abu-Jihaad was indicted in March 2007 on material-support and national-defense-information charges. The judge denied his requests to suppress FISA-derived evidence, disclose the underlying FISA materials and obtain a Franks hearing, concluding that the surveillance was lawfully authorized and conducted. This was an evidentiary ruling before trial, not a conviction, sentence or custody-release order.
United States v. Abu-Jihaad, January 24, 2008 memorandum, PDF pages 1 and 24–26.
The government’s appellate brief records the March 5, 2008 jury verdict and the district court’s March 4, 2009 judgment of acquittal on the material-support count. The national-defense-information count remained, with ten years imprisonment and three years supervised release imposed April 3, 2009. The brief’s request to affirm is advocacy, not an appellate disposition.
