By Matt Sedensky
The Associated Press

MIAMI — A man standing trial with accused al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla rejected the type of violence prosecutors have claimed he supported, his attorney argued Monday.

William Swor sought to prove his client Kifah Wael Jayyousi was driven by his compassion for his fellow Muslims, a defense that began last week when an attorney for co-defendant Adham Amin Hassoun began cross-examining the case’s lead FBI agent, John T. Kavanaugh.

And when Jayyousi was dissatisfied with political situations, his attorney argued, he dealt with it in the most civic-minded of ways.

Jayyousi phoned and wrote newspapers, his congressman and the State Department, Swor said. When he was offended by newspapers’ publishing of cartoons he believed were insulting to Muslims, the attorney said, Jayyousi participated in letter-writing and phone campaigns. And when a Lebanese radio station employee encouraged him to threaten the Lebanese government, the defendant did not, his attorney said.

Swor pointed to the mission statement in his client’s newsletter Islam Report - a publication prosecutors have characterized as propaganda and a fundraising tool for radical causes. That statement claimed the newsletter and its parent organization were “established to protect the rights of Muslims and to provide economic, humanitarian and educational assistance to the needy.”

Continued at the Sun Sentinel