The Council on American-Islamic Relations has raised a stir with federal prosecutors in an Inland Empire terrorism case by issuing a press release days before trial was to begin seeking public assistance in obtaining information about a confidential FBI informant in the case.

CAIR’s Greater Los Angeles Area office issued a press release on Aug. 10, three days before trial was to begin. It indicated the informant had been paid $356,645 by the government as well as immigration benefits because he was a convicted felon being allowed to stay in the U.S. to work as an informant.

The government has confirmed their informant served time in federal prison for trafficking in pseudo ephedrine, which is used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Sohiel Omar Kabir, 36, of Pomona, and Ralph Kenneth DeLeon, 25, of Ontario, are standing trial in U.S. District in Riverside on five felony counts of conspiring to kill, kidnap or maim American targets, including “officers and employees of the United States” and military personnel, to provide material support to the terrorist organization al-Qaida, and to receive al-Qaida-backed military training to benefit the terrorist organization.

Two other men initially indicted in the case, Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales, 23, of Upland and Arifeen David Gojali, 23, of Riverside, have pleaded guilty and are expected to testify against Kabir and DeLeon during the trial.

CAIR said in its release that it was concerned about the FBI’s use of confidential informants to entrap alleged terror suspects, and included information from a study by Project SALAM and the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms which concluded that 94 percent of all terrorist plots were fabricated or provoked by the FBI.

CAIR encouraged anyone with information to contact the Federal Public Defender’s Office, and listed the office’s phone number on its press release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan J. De Witt said prosecutors were concerned about the timing of the press release and its potential exposure to jurors and possible tainting of the jury pool. She said she was also concerned about the public disclosure of the amount of money the government has paid to its informant, which she said was confidential and under a protective order by the court.

De Witt also said the way CAIR characterized how the informant was paid was misleading.

U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips said she would consider imposing sanctions, but as of Friday no order had been issued.

Defense attorney David Thomas, who represents DeLeon, said he had nothing to do with any information being leaked to CAIR, nor did he have anything to do with the organization’s press release.

Federal Deputy Public Defender Jeffrey Aaron, who represents Kabir, said he understands CAIR had contacted his investigator to inquire about the case, but that neither he nor his investigator had anything to do with the press release.

“CAIR is an independent organization. We don’t tell them what to do,” Aaron said Friday.

As to the disclosure of what the government’s confidential informant has been paid, Aaron disagreed that the information was confidential and under protective order. He said the original indictment included information about the informant and how much he had been paid up until that time.

Fatima Dadabhoy, senior civil rights attorney for CAIR’s Greater Los Angeles Area chapter, said the press release was not an attempt to sabotage the government’s case nor place the informant in any potential danger. She said knowledge of the government’s use of the informant in the case was already a matter of public record.

“Our objective isn’t to release the identity of the informant, but to get information on how he has acted and how to use that information to protect people in the community,” Dadabhoy said. “One of the tactics the FBI uses is to use informants to entrap people.

She said CAIR is not working with defense attorneys on the case.

“We’re interested in making sure that people are ensured a fair trial, and if there’s been entrapment, and to make sure that doesn’t influence their right to a fair trial,” Dadabhoy said. “I think this case is just an example of the larger issue that we’re interested in.”

Prosecutors expect the issue of entrapment to be brought up by the defense camp during trial, court records show.

In a trial memo dated Aug. 5, federal prosecutors said they anticipated the defendants would likely assert they were entrapped by the government. Although the court prohibited defense attorneys from bringing up an entrapment allegation during their opening statements, it ruled they can introduce evidence that could possibly support a jury instruction on entrapment by the judge, according to the trial memo.

An entrapment defense is only available to defendants who were directly induced by government agents and if the defendants were not predisposed to commit the crime, the trial memo stated.

“In this case, the government expects that neither defendant (DeLeon and Kabir) will be able to introduce evidence that the government pressured him to commit the alleged offenses or that he was at all reluctant to engage in the charged crimes,” prosecutors said in the memo. “Rather, the proof at trial will show that both defendants voluntarily entered the charged conspiracies, and that they did so without any reluctance.”