Terrorism, and the advocacy thereof, is not a First Amendment issue...or even a Constitution issue. If the government wins this case they could, and should, shut down at least the 80% of the mosques in the US that are bin-Laden Wahabbists.
-Bruce Washington Post April 4, 2005 Terrorism Case Puts Words of Muslim Leader On Trial in Va. By Jerry Markon Washington Post Staff Writer http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23697-2005Apr3?language=printer Islamic spiritual leader Ali Al-Timimi's pen is mightier than his sword, prosecutors contend. It's not so much his actions but his words that make him so dangerous, they say. Less than a week after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Timimi told a group of Northern Virginia Muslims that it should train for violent jihad abroad and wage war on the United States, prosecutors say. In 2003, he celebrated the crash of the space shuttle Columbia in a message that prosecutors say reflected his view that the United States itself should be destroyed. The government says the statements of Timimi -- who goes on trial today in U.S. District Court in Alexandria -- constitute nothing short of treason. But some Muslims, who are rallying to Timimi's side through a Web site and other expressions of support, see a respected religious leader being prosecuted for his words. "He is not accused of anything except talking. It's all about him saying something," said Shaker Elsayed, a member of the executive committee of Dar Al Hijrah mosque in Falls Church. "If this isn't a First Amendment issue, I don't know what is." Although legal experts are as divided on the case as the two sides are, some said that the case reflects the power of words in the post-Sept. 11 climate -- and that it poses an important test of the free-speech rights Americans have come to expect since the First Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1791. "This is a troubling case with very significant First Amendment concerns," said Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor with experience in national security cases. If Timimi "encouraged people to go kill Americans, it comes very close to the criminal line, if not passing over it," Turley said. But historically, he said, "Courts have been uneasy with a criminal allegation based solely on words alone." Victoria Toensing, a Washington lawyer who created the Justice Department's terrorism unit during the Reagan administration, said Timimi's words could send him to prison. "If he said, 'I want you to go join the movement in Afghanistan and here is where you get the training,' that's no different from saying, 'Go join a murder club,' " Toensing said. Whether Timimi will go to prison probably will depend on whether he expected his listeners to act on what he told them, legal experts said. Although free-speech rights have been interpreted differently in different eras, the current standard derives from the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court opinion Brandenburg v. Ohio, they said. That opinion says the government cannot forbid "advocacy of the use of force" unless that advocacy is intended or likely to produce "imminent lawless action.'' "The key," said Rebecca Glenberg, legal director for the ACLU of Virginia, "is whether Timimi's speech was likely to cause others to act and whether he intended it to cause them to act.'' Timimi is charged with 10 counts, which include attempting to contribute services to the Taliban and soliciting or inducing others to commit a variety of crimes, such as conspiring to levy war on the United States, using firearms and carrying explosives. One charge involving war is drawn from a section of federal law headed "treason.'' If convicted on all counts, Timimi, 41, of Fairfax County, would face up to life in prison. Jury selection began last Monday, and opening statements are scheduled for today. The trial, before U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, is expected to last as long as three weeks. Prosecutors declined to comment for this story. When Timimi was indicted in September, U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty accused him of counseling young men to take up arms against the United States "while bodies were still being pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon." Attorneys for Timimi also would not comment, but they have indicated in court filings that they plan to raise free speech and First Amendment concerns. "These statements reflect religious and political beliefs that, while offensive to the vast majority of Americans, are merely reflections of the defendant's Constitutionally protected freedoms of speech, association and religion," the attorneys, Edward B. MacMahon Jr. and Alan H. Yamamoto, wrote. The case is the culmination of a highly publicized investigation after which 11 Muslim men, all but one from the Washington area, were charged with participating in paramilitary training -- including playing paintball in the Virginia countryside -- to prepare for "holy war" abroad. Timimi was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in that case. Nine of the men were convicted in 2003 and last year. Some of the men are expected to testify against Timimi. In 2000 and 2001, Timimi, a U.S. citizen who grew up in the area, was the primary lecturer at the Center for Islamic Information and Education, also known as Dar Al-Arqam, in Falls Church. On Sept. 16, 2001, the government contends, Timimi met with a group of followers from the mosque. The indictment says he told them that "the time had come" for them to join the "violent jihad" in Afghanistan and that U.S. troops likely to soon arrive there "would be legitimate targets.'' At the same meeting, the indictment says, Timimi approved of a plan for group members to prepare for jihad by obtaining military training from Lashkar-i-Taiba, an organization trying to drive India from the disputed region of Kashmir. The U.S. government has labeled Lashkar a terrorist organization, Several of the men then went to a Lashkar camp, where they fired assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, court records show. On Feb. 1, 2003, in what the indictment describes as a "message to his followers,'' Timimi said the space shuttle crash meant that "Western supremacy [especially that of the United States] . . . is coming to a quick end." The message also referred to "the destruction of the Jews.'' In a court filing, prosecutors contend that the message constituted Timimi telling his followers "that the United States was their greatest enemy and should be destroyed.'' Some area Muslims say the government is mischaracterizing a peaceful religious leader. A Web site formed by an organization that calls itself "Dr. Ali Al-Timimi's support committee" lists 21 letters of support. One letter, signed only by "Ahmad," hails Timimi's "beautiful and inspiring lectures" at Dar Al-Arqam. Another, from "Wael,'' concludes that "the government's charges are bogus.'' In a response to e-mail questions from The Washington Post in 2003, Timimi said that he never has advocated violence and that "many of my best qualities are simply because I am an American." He acknowledged that he "has opinions that go counter to the mainstream of American society." ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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