Fifth guilty plea expected in Buffalo terror case
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The six defendants are shown in a courtroom sketch from a September, 2002 court appearance.
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BUFFALO, New York (CNN) -- The fifth of six Yemeni-American men accused of attending an al Qaeda military training camp in Afghanistan is expected to plead guilty to terrorism-related charges next week.
Sources said that Yasein Taher, 25, has decided to plead guilty.
"The deal is done," said one source.
But Taher's lawyer, Rodney Personius, said only that "there are ongoing plea negotiations."
Sources familiar with the case said the plea agreement is scheduled to be unveiled Monday in federal court in Buffalo, where four other members of the group have entered guilty pleas in the past few months.
Taher is part of a group that has come to be known as the "Lackawanna Six" or "Buffalo Six." Last September, they were charged with providing material support to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network by attending a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.
The other four men -- Sahim Alwan, 30; Faysal Galab, 27; Shafel Mosed, 24; and Yahya Goba, 26 -- pleaded guilty to a slightly different, lesser charge and face around 7 to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors suggest the Buffalo Six might have constituted a so-called "sleeper cell," possibly waiting for orders to carry out some future attack in the United States, though they concede there was no evidence of any such plan.
Faced with the specter of more serious charges, ranging from weapons violations to treason, or even being labeled an "enemy combatant" and booted from criminal court, one defendant after another has decided to enter a guilty plea.
The final defendant, who has not yet made a plea agreement, is Mukhtar al-Bakri, 22.
-- From CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti
