In arguments to the judge this morning, prosecutors charged that Sami Al-Hussayen is Saudi Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali's "right-hand man as far as web site maintenance and web site matters," a contention the defense quickly termed "ridiculous."

Lead defense attorney David Nevin said Al-Hawali recently was asked about Al-Hussayen in an interview in Saudi Arabia, and he said he'd never heard of him. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Lindquist responded, "Imagine a co-conspirator distancing himself from a co-conspirator who has been arrested in America."

Evidence presented in court thus far has shown communication between Al-Hussayen and another Saudi cleric, Sheikh Salman Al-Awdah, but not Al-Hawali. Al-Hawali is the cleric who gave a searing speech about the Palestinian intifada that the prosecution plans to present today as evidence against Al-Hussayen on terrorism charges, because the Moscow computer whiz helped set up a live Internet broadcast of the speech through an Islamic web site.

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