FBI Promised Favorable Treatment for Hayat's Cooperation

[The Straight Story]

FBI Promised Favorable Treatment for Hayat's Cooperation
Written for the web by Mark Hedlund, News10 Reporter


The key suspect in a Lodi terrorism case was repeatedly promised favorable treatment by FBI agents as long as he cooperated during their interrogation, according to the videotaped confession shown in Sacramento's federal court today.

In that tape, FBI agents told Hamid Hayat several times that they would help him with prosecutors if he would just give them more information about the alleged terrorism camp in Pakistan, including its exact location, and most importantly, names of others from Lodi or Northern California who were involved.

"You've got to show me good faith here," said one FBI agent as he questioned Hayat in the early morning hours of June 5, 2005. "We're going to try and help. You're not the big fish. You're a small player. I'm trying to build an argument for you that you're helping us. You've got to give me something. Who's one of your friends that went to camp?"

Hayat named one man who he said lived in Woodbridge, but he didn't know exactly where he lived or when he attended the camp. "He went before or after me. I'll say before," said Hayat. Upon further questioning, Hayat seemed uncertain. As he threw out other possible names, the agent said, "I don't want you to tell me any name. I want you to tell me who went to camp. I want to know what you know, not what you're speculating about."

At another point in the interview, the agent told Hayat, "You're young, have a long life ahead of you. You're important to me but not as important as the next level up." The agent was pressing Hayat to tell who would give him orders to commit terrorist acts in California. Eventually, Hayat said he thought it would be a former imam in Lodi named Shabbir Ahmed. "I'll say Shabbir. I only met him once. He didn't tell me, but I'm sure he's connected to these groups."

Hayat, 23, is charged with providing material support to terrorist and lying to federal agents as he allegedly attended an Al-Qaeda training camp in 2003.

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