Last year, Justice demanded no bail for Californian accused of terrorism, then dropped charges; CAIR claims credit

In a stunning reversal, the Obama Justice Department has asked a judge to drop charges against a suspected Middle Eastern terrorist considered so dangerous by the government that prosecutors fought to deny him bail after his indictment last year.

Suddenly, this week, the feds want the case dismissed against the Afghan-born man (Ahmadullah Sais Niazi) who authorities say planned to blow up buildings and refers to Osama fin Laden as “an angel.” Niazi, who lives in southern California, is also the brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden’s body guard.

Last year he was charged with lying about his ties to terrorists in a bid to fraudulently obtain a United States passport. The FBI had been watching Niazi for years and a federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment last February. Niazi hid associations with “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” groups including Al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban when he completed nationalization papers, according to the indictment. During one visit to Pakistan Niazi visited Dr. Amin al-Haq, the security coordinator for Osama bin Laden.

Charges against Niazi include perjury, naturalization fraud, misuse of a passport obtained by fraud and making a false statement to a federal agency. He faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in federal prison and a $1.25-million fine. His trial, which has been postponed several times, is scheduled for November if the judge doesn’t grant the government’s request.

In its motion to dismiss the indictment against Niazi, the Justice Department claims that a key overseas witness was suddenly unavailable to testify. Additionally, “evidentiary issues” have also arisen since the grand jury returned the indictment, the federal motion says. So, the government is seeking to dismiss the indictment in the “interest of justice.”

Prosecutors have refused to further explain the mysterious about face, but the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a national organization that serves as the U.S. front for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, has taken much of the credit. In a statement praising the government’s motion, CAIR points out that its request to investigate the “FBI’s coercive and unlawful tactics” in Niazi’s case ultimately led the Justice Department to drop all charges.