A Yemeni sheik and his assistant were convicted yesterday of almost all the terror-related charges against them, culminating a tumultuous three-year case that saw the government’s star witness set himself on fire outside the White House.

Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad and his assistant, Mohammed Yahya Zayed, were convicted of all but two of the 10 charges in an indictment that accused them of vital roles in a terror-funding network that stretched from Brooklyn to Yemen. But the sheik was acquitted of the charge that grabbed headlines when he was arrested two years ago in Germany – supporting Al Qaeda.

Prosecutors said al-Moayad could face 75 years behind bars and Zayed could face 45 years for conspiring to support Hamas and Al Qaeda and related charges. Defense attorneys said they planned to appeal. Al-Moayad and Zayed began to protest after the verdict was announced, crying out in Arabic that the trial had been unfair.

“I want to speak with you,” Al-Moayad said in English to reporters in the courtroom, before shouting in Arabic that jurors saw only “one-half of one-quarter” of the surveillance tapes that comprised the bulk of the government’s case.

He was rushed from the room by U.S. marshals.

Al-Moayad and Zayed were recorded promising to funnel more than $2 million to Hamas in a meeting with two FBI informants in a German hotel room.

Zayed said in Arabic to U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. after the verdict was read that he wanted another lawyer.

The convictions of Al-Moayad and Zayed, who were arrested by German police in January 2003 and extradited to America, “mark another important step” in the war on terrorism, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said yesterday.

“Those who conspire to support and finance the terrorist actions of Al Qaeda and other enemies will be found, and they will face justice,” he said.