Adham Hassoun

Adham Amin Hassoun is a convict formerly incarcerated in the United States as a conspirator of José Padilla, an American initially held as an enemy combatant for supplying aid to terrorists.^[1][2]

Hassoun, a Lebanese-born Palestinian who first moved to the United States in the late 1980s, was first arrested in 2002 for overstaying his visa.^[3]

In August 2007, he was convicted, along with Padilla, of conspiracy and material support charges and sentenced to a prison term of 15 years, 8 months.^[4][5][6]

Hassoun had been a computer programmer and resident of Broward County, Florida. Sofian Abdelaziz, a member of the American Muslim Association of North America, who knew Hassoun from his activity in the Florida Muslim community, made this comment on Hassoun: "I would consider him that he's against violence, but he has a strong tongue, you know, he has a strong tongue!"^[2]

Hassoun was charged in connection with his financing of Padilla's trip to Egypt.^[7] Prosecutors alleged that Hassoun set up a local office of the charity Benevolence International, which was used as a front for al Qaeda.^[7] A 2011 NPR report claimed he was being held in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit.^[8]

When Hassoun finished his sentence, in 2017, as a non-citizen, he would normally have been deported.^[9] However, since he was stateless, he continued to be imprisoned.^[10]

Hassoun was released on July 22, 2020.^[11] He was deported and resettled in Rwanda, whose government agreed to receive him on humanitarian grounds.^[12]

Other indicted conspirators

• Kifah Jayyousi