The U.S. government is considering upgrading the charges against the 11 Muslim men indicted as part of a "Virginia jihad network," a prosecutor said in court yesterday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon D. Kromberg told a judge in U.S. District Court in Alexandria that one of the defendants had told investigators that the men's ultimate goal was "to fight American soldiers" and not just support a Pakistan-based militant group fighting India. U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema seemed surprised at the statement. "Is there a superceding [indictment] coming down the pike?" she asked. "I certainly hope so," Kromberg said.
| Jihad isn't jihad unlss you're potting Merkins... |
The 11 men are charged with supporting Lashkar-i-Taiba, which opposes Indian control of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which has a mostly Muslim population. They all have pleaded not guilty.
| L-e-T's been banned in Pakland (at least officially) since late 2001. It's been on the U.S. terrorist blacklist since before then. Book 'em, Danno. Next case. |
Lashkar was designated a terrorist organization by the State Department in December 2001. Defense attorneys have argued that any contact between the men and the militant group occurred before that date.
| "No, no! We wuz engaged in Armed Struggle™, but then youse guys said not to, so we stopped..." |
Although U.S. authorities have presented the case as part of the war on terrorism, the men are not charged with terror crimes. They are accused under a seldom-enforced law known as the Neutrality Act, which forbids Americans to fight countries with which the United States is at peace. But Kromberg said yesterday, "This is not going to be a Neutrality Act case."
| Good. But tack on a few years for that, too... |
An attorney for one of the defendants denied that the man intended to attack U.S. forces. The statement about a possible new indictment was a sign of the prosecution's desperation, said Ashraf Nubani, the attorney for Randall Royer. "I do know they're ratcheting up the pressure, to get others to confess," he said, adding that the men were being singled out for their faith. "The whole Muslim world is involved with [al] Qaeda if we follow the logic of the prosecutors."
| Only the nutty portion of the Muslim world. And L-e-T's definitely a member in good standing of the nutty potion... |
The disclosure came during an appeal of an earlier decision to release one of the 11 men, Seifullah Chapman. Brinkema agreed with prosecutors that he should be detained. At a separate hearing yesterday, she rejected a bid by another of the defendants, Yong Ki Kwon, to be freed pending trial, scheduled for November. So far, three of the defendants have been freed on bond. Witnesses disclosed yesterday that one of the defendants had been cooperating with the FBI. Kwon's older brother, Yong Kwan "John" Kwon, 30, of Fairfax County, testified that his brother, a 27-year-old Muslim convert, had traveled to Pakistan in September 2001 and then had gone to his native South Korea, where he was told that the FBI was looking for him. The younger man returned to the United States in March 2003. Asked about his brother's activities when he came back to Virginia, the elder Kwon replied: "I believe he was cooperating with the FBI agents."
| Korean jihadis. The mind boggles... |
Brinkema said she denied bond for Kwon partly based on information under seal, which she discussed privately with the attorneys for both sides. The judge said she overruled the earlier decision to free Chapman, of Alexandria, because he had sold several assault rifles, one illegally, and because of discrepancies in the accounts of whether he had gone to a Lashkar camp in Pakistan.
| Betcha he had some false passports, too... |
Prosecutors introduced two documents yesterday to buttress the argument that the 11 men were involved in dangerous activities. One was a statement by an FBI agent that another defendant, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, had acknowledged firing at Indian military positions and said he wanted to die as a martyr. Al-Hamdi's attorney has denied that he attacked Indian soldiers. Chapman's court-appointed attorney, Veta Carney, said the statement was secondhand information and had no connection to her client.
| "Yeah. The witnesses are all dead..." |
Another document, found in the home of defendant Masoud Ahmad Khan, "expresses gladness for the 9/11 attacks," Kromberg. said. He said it was not clear who wrote it. |