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As Salaam Alaikum
Ali Al-Tamimi was sentenced to life in prison for his hizbee statements and Allah nows best.
The Article is below.
Abu Mu'aawiyah Malik Swift
Wa Alaikum Salaam
Al-Timimi Jailed for Life in ?Virginia Jihad? Case
Barbara Ferguson, Arab News
Ali Al-Timimi
WASHINGTON, 15 July 2005 ? An prominent Islamic scholar, whom prosecutors called a ?purveyor of hate and war,? was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for urging his followers after the Sept. 11 attacks, to join the Taleban and fight against US troops. Ali Al-Timimi, was defiant to the end, telling a federal judge in a 10-minute speech prior to sentencing that he considered himself a ?prisoner of conscience? who was being persecuted for his Islamic beliefs. The district court judge in the case, Leonie M. Brinkema, reluctantly ordered the life sentence against Al-Timimi, saying she was bound by federal guidelines.
Al-Timimi, 42, of Fairfax, Va., had ties to a now-defunct, Pittsburgh-based magazine that advocated holy war, was convicted last spring of recruiting a group of northern Virginia men to travel to Pakistan and train to take up arms for the Taleban. The men, who played paintball and went to shooting ranges to train for holy war, were dubbed the Virginia Paintball Jihad.
Al-Timimi?s attorneys characterized the scholar, who recently received a doctorate for work related to cancer research, as a gentle man of peace who had never been convicted of a crime or owned a weapon. They said he did nothing more than advise the young men to seek out a nation where they could practice Islam in safety. They vowed to appeal the verdict, charging it was based on an anti-Muslim bias fueled by the unpopular sentiments on 10-year-old tapes of Al-Timimi?s lectures on Islam. Although Brinkema called the punishment ?very draconian,? she said she had no choice under congressionally mandated minimum sentencing requirements.
His lawyers portrayed Timimi as a Muslim scholar whose often-incendiary rhetoric merely reflected his right to free speech. Some legal experts agreed that the case raised troubling First Amendment concerns, while others said that his words crossed the line because they could have incited violence.
But Brinkema was careful that Islam was not finger pointed as a culprit. She said the prosecutor specifically told jurors Al-Timimi?s sentiments did not represent Islam.
As Brinkema pronounced the life sentence, Timimi nodded slightly. The judge then revoked his bond, and Timimi walked slowly away in the custody of US marshals, smiling and waving at supporters in the emotionally charged courtroom, where some of his followers wiped tears from their eyes.
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Malik.Swift
15-07-2005 @ 6:00 PM
