- Mohamad Hammoud/mecklenburg co. sheriff’s photo
By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
They say federal judges have plenty powers, and in fact, they can make a century or more disappear with the snap of a finger.
That’s just what happened Thursday when U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen in Charlotte, N.C. reduced the 155 year sentence of Hezbollah supporter Mohamad Hammoud to 30 years in prison, the Associated Press reported.
“The crime represented here was not as serious as other terrorism cases,” Mullen said, according to AP.
Hammoud, 37, a North Carolina businessman, was convicted in 2002 of financing suspected Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon with profits from a multimillion-dollar cigarette-smuggling operation he ran with his brother. Prosecutors at the time accused him of being the leader of a terrorist cell.
AP reported that Hammoud, from Lebanon, will likely spend 20 more years in prison and then be deported.
His attorneys wanted the sentence reduced to the 10 years served, saying the money Hammoud raised was for a wing of Hezbollah that helps provide clean water and good housing to communities.
