Sami Omar Al-Hussayen

Who is Sami Omar Al-Hussayen?

Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, also known as Sami Al-Hussayen, is a teacher at a technical college in Riyadh. As a Ph.D. graduate student in computer science at the University of Idaho in the United States, he was arrested and charged in 2003 by the United States with running websites as a webmaster that were linked to organizations that support terrorism. Al-Hussayen is one of the few people at the time to have been charged under a provision that has been described as "overly broad and vague." He was also charged with immigration violations.

U.S. v. Al-Hussayen is considered a landmark case for civil liberties, related to provisions of the USA Patriot Act in the United States. It was the first time that the government tried to use the material support statutes "to prosecute conduct that consisted almost exclusively of operating and maintaining websites."

The Idaho senior US Senator and one of its Congressmen, both Republicans, had already proposed amendments to the Act because of their concerns about its effects on civil liberties.

At an immigration hearing in 2003, the federal judge ordered Al-Hussayen deported.