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A court ruling against a Yemeni citizen has sparked wide controversy in U.S. legal circles after a federal judge sentenced Yemeni national Haider Abu Ayad Al-Montaser to five years in prison, despite federal sentencing guidelines recommending only six months.
According to FOX10 News, the decision came after Al-Montaser pleaded guilty last July to conspiracy to commit international money laundering— a punishment his defense team described as harsh and unjustified.
After the hearing, defense attorney Sanford Schulman called the ruling “absurd,” adding: “In 35 years and 4,000 cases, I’ve never heard of anything like it. There were no weapons, no drugs… yet he received a sentence ten times the guideline recommendation.”
The sentence handed to Al-Montaser matched that of his co-defendant, Salim Mohammed Yahya Al-Sahqani, a Yemeni immigrant who owns a gas station in Alabama. Al-Sahqani had admitted to paying money to smugglers to facilitate the journey of Al-Montaser and another person through Central America and Mexico.
During the hearing, federal judge Jeffrey Beaverstock said he was highly concerned about the nature and circumstances of the case, referring to messages and photos uncovered during the investigation that were linked to the other defendant, Al-Sahqani.
Al-Montaser’s attorney explained that his client had applied for asylum upon arriving in the United States and had lived in Detroit for the past four years, working two jobs, marrying an American woman, and fathering two children, in addition to adopting a third child.
Speaking through an interpreter, Al-Montaser told the court: “I worked hard to build my family… I cannot live without them.” He added that his family had suffered greatly during his detention, pleading with the judge: “Your Honor, have mercy on me.”
An FBI agent revealed that investigators had found Facebook messages from Al-Sahqani related to the sale of weapons in Yemen, along with photos showing him holding rifles. Case documents also indicate that Al-Montaser sent a Nicaraguan ID card to Al-Sahqani in 2020 with instructions to transfer $700.
Investigations further showed that Al-Montaser and the other defendant, Mahmoud Naji Saad Qammous, were in continuous communication during their separate journeys toward the U.S. border.
Prosecutor Christopher Bodnar stated that Al-Montaser traveled using his Yemeni passport to Djibouti, then Egypt, and from there to Ecuador to begin his route through Latin America, arguing that “he had extensive travel experience but chose not to use his passport to enter the United States.”
In contrast, attorney Schulman stressed that his client had no connection to the weapons tied to Al-Sahqani, noting that a federal judge in Michigan had previously allowed him to remain free before the decision was later overturned.
He described the ruling as routine yet devoid of logic, suggesting it may stem from a mindset possibly biased against foreigners.
