Just in from CNN, with
thanks to Jeffrey Imm
September 23, 2004
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Muslim lecturer, Ali al-Timimi, was
indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday, on charges including counseling
people to engage in a conspiracy to levy war against the United States, to aid
the Taliban and to use firearms in violent crimes.
The United States alleges al-Timimi, who
lectured at a prominent Northern Virginia mosque until the September 11, 2001,
terror attacks, told followers attending a meeting that Islamic history
justifies attacks on civilians, that those fighting Americans in Afghanistan
would die as martyrs and how to reach a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.
"We are going to deny all the
charges," al-Timimi's attorney, James Vann, told CNN.
"He has a record of lectures going
back years and years, 15 to 20 years preaching non-violence and cooperation
between the Muslim world and America."
The indictment is part of a government
case in which 11 men were charged last year as part of a "Virginia jihad
network." The 11 faced accusations of helping the Pakistan-based militant
group Lashkar-e-Taiba and using paintball games as a way to train for possible
terrorist activity. Nine of the men either pleaded guilty or were convicted.
Al-Timimi was not charged in the indictment.