A Falls Church man who was acquitted three years ago of providing services to the Taliban went on trial again Monday, this time accused of lying to a federal grand jury about his training as a jihadist. The lawyer for defendant Sabri Benkahla, 31, told a jury during opening statements in U.S. District Court that prosecutors essentially laid a perjury trap for Benkahla after his acquittal. The defense has also accused the government of pursuing a vindictive prosecution in response to its legal defeat. Benkahla was one of only two defendants who obtained acquittals in the government's prosecution of a dozen Muslim men who participated in what the government called a "Virginia jihad network" that used paintball games in the Virginia woods in 2000 and 2001 as a means to train for holy war around the globe. Several of the men admitted that they traveled shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks to Pakistan to receive jihad training with the eventual goal of joining the Taliban and fighting against U.S. troops. Three of the defendants received what amounted to life sentences.
While Benkahla is on trial for perjury and not terrorism, the specter of the Virginia jihad prosecutions quickly raised its Monday. Defense lawyers objected when prosecutor Gordon Kromberg mentioned Benkahla's association with some of the paintball group, including Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a Falls Church man who was convicted of joining al-Qaida while studying in Saudi Arabia and plotting to assassinate President Bush. Defense attorney John Keats accused Kromberg of trying to imply Benkahla's guilt by association. Kromberg said he was simply explaining that the government had valid reasons for seeking Benkahla's grand jury testimony.