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| Jurors Hear Clashing Profiles of Accused Jihad Network Member |
| 2006-05-23 |
| The last man charged as a member of the "Virginia jihad network" went on trial yesterday, with prosecutors saying Ali Asad Chandia trained at a terrorist camp and helped a foreign terrorist group, while defense attorneys portrayed him as a kindly third-grade teacher who did nothing wrong. Chandia, 29, is accused of helping Lashkar-i-Taiba acquire an electronic autopilot system and video equipment for use on model airplanes. The group, which the U.S. government has designated a terrorist organization, is battling the government of India and runs terrorist camps in Pakistan. Prosecutors said Chandia trained at one of those camps in late 2001 or early 2002, although they acknowledged that they have no eyewitnesses to that. "He is a radical Islamic jihadist who glorified the use of lethal violence against non-Muslims whether they be in India or the United States," Assistant U.S. Attorney David Laufman said in opening statements at Chandia's trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He said a search of Chandia's College Park home found materials praising the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, including "images of our fellow citizens jumping from the burning towers to their deaths." Chandia was indicted in September. Defense attorney Marvin Miller said that Chandia, who teaches at a Muslim school in Maryland, is "a scholar in his Islamic faith." He denied that Chandia trained at a Lashkar camp, saying he was in Pakistan to attend his brother's wedding. "He is not on trial for what he thinks -- or he shouldn't be. And he is not on trial for what he believes," Miller told the 10-woman, four-man jury, which includes two alternates. "He is on trial for you to decide whether or not he did anything." The trial brought back some of the emotion surrounding what prosecutors called the jihad network case. Over the past several years, 10 Muslim men have been convicted of training for holy war against the United States or inspiring others to do so. The training included playing paint ball in the Virginia countryside, and some of the defendants attended Lashkar camps in Pakistan. Federal officials have described the case as one of the most important domestic terrorism prosecutions since Sept. 11, but some Northern Virginia Muslims have accused prosecutors of targeting their religious community. About a dozen supporters of Chandia's were in court yesterday. One Maryland man, Steve Lapham, briefly disrupted jury selection by yelling: "I object to these show trials against my Muslim American neighbors!" As court security officers led him away, he added: "It's a joke!" Tanweer Ahmad, whose daughter attends Dar al-Huda school in College Park, where Chandia works, said in an interview that he views the case as "just the government, again, trying to play on people's fears." Chandia is charged with four counts of providing or conspiring to provide material support to Lashkar. If convicted, he faces up to 60 years in prison. Also named in the indictment is Mohammed Ajmal Khan, a British national whom prosecutors called a top Lashkar official. He is serving a prison term in Britain for terrorism offenses. Prosecutors said Chandia traveled to a Lashkar office in Lahore, Pakistan, in November 2001 shortly after resigning from his job at a Costco store. He is accused of working with other defendants to help Khan obtain equipment for the group. The equipment allegedly included 50,000 paint balls and components of an "electronic automatic pilot system" that can be installed on a small remote-controlled airplane using Global Positioning System coordinates. It is unclear whether any of the equipment was used by Lashkar -- or if any was intended for use in the United States. "Nobody knows where it is. It's never been seen," Miller told the jury. |
| Posted by:ryuge |