Six weeks after 9/11, Hawash secretly traveled to China with a group of Portland-area Muslims, dubbed the Portland Seven, with the intent of entering Afghanistan to aid the Taliban.
Hawash and his fellow conspirators were unable to reach Afghanistan due to visa problems, according to federal authorities.
Hawash eventually pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid the Taliban in exchange for a reduced, seven-year sentence.
Hawash emigrated to the United States in 1984 and attended the University of Texas at Arlington where he obtained degrees in Computer Science and Engineering.
And he became a regular attendee at Masjed as-Saber, the Islamic Center of Portland, a more fundamentalist place of worship than the Bilal Mosque, which he previously attended and which was closer to his home.
[4] Hawash later testified that he believed Muslims could not have been responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and that "retaliation against the Taliban for harboring al Qaeda in Afghanistan was wrong.
These included Habis Abdulla al Saoub, a Jordanian; Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal and his brother, Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, Americans of Saudi heritage; as well as Jeffrey Leon Battle and Patrice Lumumba Ford, two African-American Muslims, and October Martinique Lewis (Battle's ex-wife).
After numerous unsuccessful attempts by the group to obtain visas to gain entry into Afghanistan, Hawash returned to the United States, where he arranged to get $2,000 to al Saoub in China.
He is reported to have said, “I’ve been expecting you.”[3] Hawash was initially arrested and detained as a material witness and was held for over five weeks without charge.
Hawash became a cause célèbre due to the nature of his arrest: he was held in solitary confinement and with limited access to attorneys for over five weeks under a material witness warrant, and evidence against him was sealed and presented in closed court.
[8] The New York Times quoted McGeady describing Hawash's pre-trial detention as "Alice in Wonderland meets Franz Kafka.
"[9] After Hawash was formally charged, McGeady, acting as spokesman for Hawash's family, said "People who know Mike believe the idea that Mike would have fought for the Taliban in Afghanistan is completely absurd and that he ultimately will be cleared" and “We hope that once a jury hears what happened, they’ll realize that a mistake was made.”[1][10] Hawash's attorney, Stephen Houze said “It’s our intention to shed the light of day on what has been a dark cloud of secrecy,” stating that he would use his pre-trial discovery powers to compel the United States to declassify any evidence it plans to use in the case.
[3]The most significant evidence against Hawash and the Portland Seven was gathered (under provisions from the USA Patriot Act) from emails the men had sent each other.
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones asked Hawash during the hearing "You and the others in the group were prepared to take up arms, and die as martyrs if necessary, to defend the Taliban.
The other living members of the Portland Seven were also sentenced in separate trials: Habis al Saoub was never captured and has been confirmed dead by authorities in Afghanistan.