Maher Mofeid "Mike" Hawash (born December 12, 1964) is an American engineer who was convicted and sentenced to a seven-year prison sentence in 2003 for conspiring to aid the Taliban in fighting against U.S. forces and their allies in Afghanistan. Six weeks after 9/11, Hawash secretly traveled to China with a group of Portland-area Muslims, dubbed the Portland Seven, with the intent of entering Afghanistan to aid the Taliban. Hawash and his fellow conspirators were unable to reach Afghanistan due to visa problems, according to federal authorities.
Over a year later, after continuing to live and work near Portland, Hawash was arrested outside his office at Intel, setting off a heated debate about material witness arrest and detention and the Patriot Act, and galvanizing a movement to free Hawash. Hawash eventually pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid the Taliban in exchange for a reduced, seven-year sentence. He was released from prison in early 2009.
Background
Mike Hawash was born in Nablus in the West Bank on December 12, 1964. A Jordanian citizen, in 1990 Hawash became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Hawash emigrated to the United States in 1984 and attended the University of Texas at Arlington where he obtained degrees in Computer Science and Engineering. He was employed by Compaq as an engineer from 1989 through 1992, when he was hired by Intel and moved to Portland, Oregon. Hawash worked at Intel’s Israel facility from 1994 to 1996 and continued working for Intel until 2001. He was co-author of the 1997 book DirectX, RDX, RSX, and MMX Technology. In 1995, he married a Christian woman from rural Oregon, and together they had two children. Hawash's wife had a child from a previous marriage.
Hawash becomes an increasingly fundamentalist Muslim
Around 2000, Hawash began to drift toward a more fundamentalist Islam, in part as a reaction to the death of his father.
Masjed as-Saber was a major donor to the Global Relief Foundation, a Muslim charity "shut down in late 2001 over allegations of fund-raising and money-laundering for terrorist groups," Hawash later testified that he believed Muslims could not have been responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and that "retaliation against the Taliban for harboring al Qaeda in Afghanistan was wrong."
In October 2002, the six members of the group other than Hawash were indicted and four were arrested. Ahmed Bilal and Al Saoub remained fugitives.
In March 2003, Hawash was also arrested as a material witness, and after a five-week detention was charged. In September 2003 the group, now dubbed "The Portland Seven", "were all named in the 15-count superseding indictment that included charges of conspiracy to levy war against the United States, conspiracy to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda, conspiracy to contribute services to al Qaeda and the Taliban, conspiracy to possess and discharge firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence, possessing firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence and money laundering."
Arrest and detention
On March 20, 2003, federal authorities arrested Hawash in the parking lot of Intel. He is reported to have said, “I’ve been expecting you.” The New York Times quoted McGeady describing Hawash's pre-trial detention as "Alice in Wonderland meets Franz Kafka."
After Hawash was formally charged, McGeady, acting as spokesman for Hawash's family, said "People who know Mike believe the idea that Mike would have fought for the Taliban in Afghanistan is completely absurd and that he ultimately will be cleared" and “We hope that once a jury hears what happened, they’ll realize that a mistake was made.”
Hawash's attorney, Stephen Houze said “It’s our intention to shed the light of day on what has been a dark cloud of secrecy,” stating that he would use his pre-trial discovery powers to compel the United States to declassify any evidence it plans to use in the case. “This is America,” he added. “We have an open court system.” Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of conspiring to levy war against the United States and conspiring to provide material support for terrorism. U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones asked Hawash during the hearing "You and the others in the group were prepared to take up arms, and die as martyrs if necessary, to defend the Taliban. Is this true?" Hawash replied "Yes, your honor."
In his allocution at sentencing he noted he had had misgivings on the way and had come home shortly afterward. "It's something that I have done that is completely out of my character," Hawash said. "It's not something ingrained in me or something that I do. It was just a diversion in my life, and I clearly know that it's an unlawful act that I have done."
Hawash received a seven-year sentence (as opposed to a potential twenty-year sentence) in exchange for testifying against some of his fellow conspirators. Sentencing Judge Jones commented to Hawash at his sentencing that "you hurt your religion very deeply," and that Hawash had offered to cooperate with the government only after being indicted.