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June 7, 2006

US: "Virginia Jihad" - Eleventh Conviction

News from Associated Press via the Richmond Times Dispatch states that yesterday, a 29-year old Muslim teacher became the eleventh person to be convicted in the so-called "Virginia Jihad."

Ali Asad Chandia, a third-grade teacher at a Muslim school in College Park, Maryland, was found guilty on three of four counts with which he had been charged. He will be sentenced on August 18.

One of the charges against him is that he conspired to provide, and also provided material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He could receive 45 years in prison.

He was accused by the US government of going to Pakistan shortly after the 9/11 attacks where he received military training from Lashkar-e-Tayba (Lashkar-e-Taiba/Toiba), an Islamist militant group which uses terror and violence to cause India to give up its claims to Kashmir, Jammu & Kashmir State. It was designated a foreign terrorist entity by the US government in December 2001.

Chandia came back to the US in January 2002 and the government had argued that he then acted as a chauffeur to a Lashkar-e-Tayba commander, Mohammed Ajmal Khan. He also helped Khan to export military training equipment from the US to Pakistan. This included remote-controlled aircraft, and also 50,000 paintballs.

Many of the convicted Virginia Jihad individuals were followers of the preacher Ali al-Timini (pictured above). 42-year old Timini is Washington DC-born and was based in Fairfax County. He is said to have encouraged his followers to engage in semi-military training by partaking in paintball gun exercises in the woods near Fredericksburg during 200 and 2001.

A full copy of al-Timini's indictment, made in September 23, 2004 can be downloaded in pdf format here. Al-Timini, a biologist, had been moved with his parents when aged 15 to Saudi Arabia for two years, where he became "interested" in Islam. He was convicted on April 26, 2005 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia of soliciting others to wage war against the US. He was given a life sentence on July 13, 2005, with an additional 70 years without parole.

Chandia did not participate in the paintball exercises. He is the 11th person to be convicted so far. Two others have been acquitted.

Seven individuals stood trial in September 2003, and in January 2004 two of the men, Randall Royer and Ibrahim Al-Hamdi, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities under a plea agreement. Four others later followed suit.

Some of those who were convicted had their sentences reduced last year, following a Supreme Court ruling which gave judges more discretion when applying sentencing terms. US district Judge Leonie Brinkema had said in June 2004 that some of the sentences were "draconian".

Brinkema said at the conviction of Masoud Khan (who received a life sentence) and Seifullah Chapman (85 years' jail): "We have murderers who get far less time. I've sent al-Qaida members planning attacks on these shores to less time. This is sticking in my craw. Law and justice at times need to be in tune." A third defendant, Hammad Abdur-Raheem, had been given a 97 month sentence.

On Friday July 29, 2003, she reduced Chapman's sentence to 65 years, and Abdur-Raheem's sentence to 52 months. 20 years were knocked off Khan's sentencing, but he will still remain in prison on his life sentence.

Some of those convicted were found guilty under the 200-year old "Neutrality Act", which forbids any US citizen from fighting against America's allies, in this case, India.

A background to the Virginia Jihad affair, written in 2003, can be found here.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 7, 2006 5:47 PM

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