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An Islamic lecturer charged with aiding the Taliban and urging local Muslims to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan was granted bond Friday at a pretrial hearing. Ali Al-Timimi, 40, of Fairfax, was granted release on $75,000 secured bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Liam O'Grady. Al-Timimi is barred from leaving the metropolitan Washington, D.C., region while free on bond. Prosecutors did not oppose his release. It was not immediately clear Friday afternoon whether Al-Timimi had posted bond. Al-Timimi, who is pursuing a doctorate at George Mason University in cancer research, was indicted Thursday by a grand jury on six counts that could result in life in prison if he is convicted. The government alleges that he engaged in a conspiracy to levy war against the United States and attempted to provide aid to the Taliban, along with charges of aiding and abetting the use of firearms in a crime of violence. Specifically, prosecutors say Al-Timimi, a former lecturer at the Dar al-Arqam mosque in Falls Church, urged some of his followers at a secret Sept. 16, 2001 meeting to take up arms and defend the Taliban. He said the Sept. 11 attacks were a harbinger of the final battle between Islam and the infidels, according to the indictment. Four people who attended the meeting eventually traveled to Pakistan and trained with a militant group called Lashkar-e-Taiba, with the hope of using their training on behalf of the Taliban. None of the four actually made it to Afghanistan. All four have already been convicted as part of the government's prosecution of a so-called "Virginia jihad network" of young Muslim men who used paintball games in the woods near Fredericksburg as training for holy war around the globe in 2000 and 2001. Three of the four admitted guilt and testified at the trial of the fourth who traveled to Pakistan, Masoud Khan of Gaithersburg, Md. Khan was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The director of the Dar al-Arqam mosque, Haytham Hantash, attended Friday's hearing to lend support to Al-Timimi. "We felt he never preached anything related to violent jihad," Hantash said. "His views were always consistent with someone who believes that violent acts are not permissible in Islam." During Friday's hearing, Al-Timimi's lawyer, James Vann, said Al-Timimi has been cooperative with the government's investigation for the last 18 months. "We intend to prove his innocence and prove it in court," Vann said after the hearing.