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Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a Falls Church man and a member of al Qaeda who admitted he was planning to assassinate then-President George W. Bush, was sentenced to life in prison Monday at federal court in Alexandria. Abu Ali was originally sentenced in 2005 to 30 years in prison. U.S. Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of the U.S. District Court for eastern Virginia ruled Monday that Abu Ali should spend life in prison partially because he never renounced his al Qaeda ties. After the initial sentencing, both sides filed appeals. Abu Ali completed some of his sentence in solitary confinement at...

Original Article: Accused Terrorist on Trial in Jordan Attended Classes at Sac State; Initiation to Terrorism May Have Started in Sacramento, According to Published Reports. Layla Bohm State Hornet (Student Newspaper) November 27, 2001 Former Sacramento State student Raed Hijazi at his trial in Jordan Nov. 26. Hijazi pleaded innocent to nine charges stemming from a plot to execute terrorist attacks on America and Israel during Millenium celebrations in December 1999. Courtesy Photo/A He was a typical California student. Born in San Jose Dec. 3, 1968, Raed Hijazi eventually attended Sacramento City College, took a Sacramento State extension course...

The Hunt for American al Qaeda The United States is turning up the heat in the hunt for the California boy turned al Qaeda operative, Adam Gadahn, who has been charged with treason and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. If caught and convicted, Gadahn could face the death penalty. The State Department along with the Department of Diplomatic Security announced the beginning of a publicity campaign in Afghanistan urging locals to provide any information on Gadahn's whereabouts, with a reward if the information leads to his capture. Radio advertisements with information concerning the $1 million reward have...

A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a U.S. man convicted of plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush and conspiring with al Qaeda to 30 years in prison. In November, Abu Ali was found guilty of all charges in a nine-count indictment, including conspiracy to assassinate Bush, conspiring to support al Qaeda and conspiracy to hijack aircraft.

<p>The former number two official in Saddam Hussein's Iraqi air force claims the former Iraqi dictator moved weapons of mass destruction from Iraq to Syria in the months preceding the current Iraq war.</p>

Suspect in Assassination Plot Convicted By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago Jurors rejected a U.S. citizen's claim he was tortured by Saudi forces to extract a confession and found him guilty Tuesday of joining al-Qaida and plotting the assassination of President Bush. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, could be sentenced to life in prison on charges that include conspiracy to assassinate the president, conspiracy to hijack aircraft and providing support to al-Qaida. Abu Ali confessed shortly after his arrest at a Medina, Saudi Arabia, university in June 2003 that he joined al-Qaida and discussed various terrorist plots,...

Terror Suspect: 'Everyone Makes Mistakes' Thursday November 3, 2005 12:01 AM By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - After confessing to FBI agents that he joined al-Qaida and discussed plans to assassinate President Bush, an American student wrote a letter to his parents saying that ``everyone makes mistakes.'' ``I know this will be difficult for you ... but I've been detained here in Saudi Arabia for some charges of terrorism,'' wrote Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, who is on trial in federal court for conspiracy to assassinate the president, providing support to al-Qaida and other charges. ``It...

A federal judge on Monday denied a request by a U.S. citizen, who has been charged with plotting to kill President George W. Bush, to throw out confessions he signed while in Saudi custody where he claims he was tortured. U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee issued brief orders denying requests by Ahmed Abu Ali, 24, to throw out the confessions he signed and to dismiss the case. Lee said he would explain his ruling at a later date. The ruling comes the day before jury selection is due to begin. Abu Ali was arrested in June 2003 while taking...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal judge ruled Monday that prosecutors can use a confession by a man charged with joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush, despite defense claims that the confession was obtained through torture. The ruling came after a six-day hearing in which Ahmed Omar Abu Ali testified that Saudi Arabian security officers whipped his back, kicked him in the stomach and pulled on his beard to obtain a confession. U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee issued a one-page ruling and said he would explain his reasoning in a forthcoming order. Abu Ali's lawyers wanted the confession...

An alleged member of Al-Qaeda, charged with plotting to kill President George W. Bush, claims Saudi Arabian interrogators used torture techniques, including chaining, beating and whipping, to make him talk. Ahmed Abu Ali, an American citizen, said he was beaten and whipped shortly after being detained in Medina, Saudi Arabia during his first days of a 20 month captivity. The 24-year old suspected terrorist and assassin testified about his ordeal in a court hearing in Washington, DC being held to examine Abu Ali's confessions and whether they will be admitted into evidence during an upcoming trial. His lawyers claimed their...

Saudi security police say Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was like "a bag of water" in his initial interrogation, spilling forth with a confession that he was an al Qaeda member and that he discussed plans to assassinate President Bush. A federal judge must decide which version he believes after hearing closing arguments yesterday in a six-day pretrial hearing in Alexandria to determine whether a confession Abu Ali gave to the Saudis in July 2003 should be allowed as evidence at his upcoming trial. The confession is the government's key piece of evidence. If U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee tosses...

ALEXANDRIA -- An FBI doctor testified Monday that he found no significant scars on the back of a U.S. citizen who claims that Saudi police whipped and tortured him into falsely confessing he joined al-Qaida and plotted to assassinate President Bush. Prosecutors allege Ahmed Omar Abu Ali joined al-Qaida in 2002 while enrolled in a college in Saudi Arabia. They say he confessed to plotting Bush's assassination along with other terrorist acts, including plans to establish an al-Qaida cell in the United States and to rescue of Muslim prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A U.S. citizen accused of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush said in a videotaped confession that he was motivated by hatred of American support for Israel. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali also said on the tape, played in court for the first time Tuesday, that a top al-Qaida operative in Saudi Arabia "made it clear I became one of them and that I could speak in the name of al-Qaida." The 13-minute confession was videotaped in 2003 by authorities in Saudi Arabia, where Abu Ali attended college. His attorneys want the confession thrown out....

A suspected terrorist accused of conspiring to assassinate President Bush said he proposed the plot but it wasn't pursued, and he was frustrated that other members of his al-Qaida cell lacked initiative, according to prosecutors. A government motion unsealed this week by a federal judge reveals new details in the case against Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, who is scheduled to go on trial next month. Prosecutors say the Falls Church resident has admitted joining al- Qaida while attending college in Saudi Arabia and that he discussed numerous terrorist plots, including plans to assassinate Bush and hijack airplanes. Abu Ali...

A Falls Church man charged with conspiring with al Qaeda to kill President Bush told Saudi interrogators that he dreamed up the plot on his own but that it never got past the "idea stage," prosecutors say in court documents unsealed yesterday. Abu Ali, 24, also said during the same interrogation that he "wanted to be in al Qaeda so bad that I decided to go to Afghanistan for jihad." He said he was unable to get a visa to travel there but did join an al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia. Abu Ali is charged in U.S. District Court...

McLEAN, Va. (AP) - A man accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush was indicted Thursday on additional charges that could bring life in prison, and prosecutors now say he also planned to establish an al-Qaida cell in the United States. Prosecutors say Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, of Falls Church joined al-Qaida in 2002 while studying in Saudi Arabia and that he discussed possible terrorist operations, including a plot to kill Bush either by shooting or by a suicide bombing.Prosecutors also allege Abu Ali discussed plans to assassinate members of Congress and to hijack aircraft and fly them into...

The Iraqi government has announced that it has arrested two senior members of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq operating in the northern city of Mosul. The government said the two men were arrested on June 19 and were candidates to replace al-Qaeda's leader in Mosul who had been captured on June 14. They two men were identified as Salim Mohammed Ahmed, also known as Abu Nabhan, and Mohammed Thaer Ibrahim, also known as Abu Sarhan. "The two terrorists surrendered without resistance," the announcement said. It offered no other details about the arrests other than to say they were the result...

The Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria is an outpost of militant Islam, say critics who point out that the school's 1999 valedictorian is charged with joining al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush. Two other persons connected to the academy also have been linked to terrorism-related cases, and a U.S. senator has asked the Justice Department to investigate the school. The school was founded in 1984, primarily to serve children of the Saudi diplomatic corps. Today, the student body is more diverse, with nearly three dozen countries represented, but much of the funding still comes from the Saudi government....

Al Qaeda High - Alleged Bush Assassin a Graduate of Local Saudi Madrassa Stella Jatras, who normally follows the Balkans for us, reports on efforts to establish yet another Saudi Madrassa outside Washington, D.C. Nestled snuggly in the Northern hills of Virginia, lies the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA), better known as Al-Qaeda High. ISA's most notable graduate - so far - is Ahmed Omar Abu Ali. Ali was arrested recently for plotting to assassinate President Bush. Ali was born in Houston and later moved to Falls Church, Va., where he was valedictorian of his class at ISA. After graduation, a...

A Virginia man accused of joining al-Qaida and plotting to kill President Bush can have an independent medical exam to corroborate his claim that he was tortured, a judge ruled Wednesday. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, claims that the U.S. government's evidence against him was obtained through torture while he was jailed in Saudi Arabia. Federal prosecutors deny Abu Ali was mistreated and say no evidence of torture was found by government doctors who examined Abu Ali last month, when the Saudi government turned him over to face federal charges. Abu Ali is a former high school valedictorian in Virginia...

ASSOCIATED PRESS A former high school valedictorian accused of joining al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush pleaded not guilty yesterday in federal court to providing material support to terrorists and to other charges. An Aug. 22 trial date was scheduled for Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, of Falls Church. He was indicted last month and charged with six counts that would allow a maximum prison term of 80 years. Prosecutors say Mr. Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen who was valedictorian of his class at an Islamic private school in Northern Virginia, joined al Qaeda while studying overseas in...

A recent criminal case in Virginia threw some light on a worrisome aspect of Muslim life in America. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen, was charged with working with al-Qaeda in an attempt to assassinate President Bush. Abu Ali’s family and friends have protested that the accused is a model young man and valedictorian of his high-school class. But it turns out that Abu Ali’s high-school career at a private Islamic school might not be the wisest thing for his family to mention. According to the Associated Press, “The private school’s teachings have come under scrutiny since the September...

I'm angry. I'm going to let off some steam. But don't think for a minute that the recommendations I make in this commentary are made in haste or without careful reflection. I waited a few days to cool off after I read the news stories that prompt this column. I didn't want to say something I would regret later. Now I feel like I will regret it later if I don't say something right now. Last month, the United States pressed charges against Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen of Arabic extraction, for plotting to assassinate President Bush....

For a free people in the age of terrorism, what is the proper balance between civil liberties and national security? This debate wracks every Western country. Looking at the United States, the "united we stand" solidarity that followed September 11, 2001, lasted just some months, after which a much deeper divide emerged as conservatives proved far more profoundly affected by the atrocities than did liberals. The result has been the growing political acrimony of the past three years. Many examples illustrate this divide. For the most recent, take the argument concerning Ahmed Omar Abu Ali between the conservative Bush administration...

A federal judge denied bail yesterday for an American student charged in an alleged conspiracy to kill President Bush after an FBI agent testified that the man had admitted plotting with al Qaeda to conduct a Sept. 11-style terror attack in the United States. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, of Falls Church, told FBI agents that he and other members of an al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia planned to hijack airplanes overseas and crash them into targets on the East Coast, according to testimony. They also discussed plans to kill members of Congress, blow up ships in U.S. ports...

For a free people in the age of terrorism, what is the proper balance between civil liberties and national security? This debate wracks every Western country. Looking at the United States, the “united we stand” solidarity that followed September 11, 2001, lasted just some months, after which a much deeper divide emerged as conservatives proved far more profoundly affected by the atrocities than did liberals. The result has been the growing political acrimony of the past three years. Many examples illustrate this divide. For the most recent, take the argument concerning Ahmed Omar Abu Ali between the conservative Bush administration...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Virginia man accused of plotting with al-Qaida to assassinate President Bush (news - web sites) has admitted his guilt on numerous occasions, an FBI agent testified Tuesday. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, admitted "multiple times" that he joined al-Qaida while studying overseas in Saudi Arabia and discussed plans with the terrorist network to assassinate President Bush, FBI agent Barry Cole said. The agent also said the suspect talked about plans for a Sept. 11-type attack in which "hijackers would board planes in Great Britain and Australia ... so they did not have to have U.S. visas."...

It is a premise as old as the American legal system: The government has the burden of proof in criminal cases, and the accused is not required to say a word in his defense. But when an American student charged in an al Qaeda plot to kill President Bush appears in court today seeking his release on bail, it is Ahmed Omar Abu Ali who will have to show that he is not a danger to his Northern Virginia community

An American citizen trained by the Saudi government in Virginia will stand trial for plotting to assassinate the president of the United States and yet the media focus on allegations of torture? For a free people in the age of terrorism, what is the proper balance between civil liberties and national security? This debate wracks every Western country. Looking at the United States, the "united we stand" solidarity that followed September 11, 2001, lasted just some months, after which a much deeper divide emerged as conservatives proved far more profoundly affected by the atrocities than did liberals. The result has...

A Falls Church man accused of conspiring to assassinate President Bush met several times with an al Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia who once was the target of a global manhunt and a key suspect in an attack that killed nine Americans in Riyadh, law-enforcement authorities said. Ahmed Omar Abul Ali, scheduled for a detention hearing tomorrow in federal court on charges of providing material support to al Qaeda, met with Zubayr al-Rimi in Saudi Arabia between September 2002 and June 2003...

# NEW YORK, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The confession of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali -- the young Muslim-American who told his Saudi questioners that he had met with a notorious al Qaeda operative and talked about an assassination plot against President George W. Bush -- was recorded on a videotape that was immediately turned over to the FBI, Newsweek reports in its March 7 issue (on newsstands Monday, February 28). The tape became the chief piece of evidence against Abu Ali, whose confession occurred two years ago in a Saudi Arabian prison, where no U.S. officials were present and where...

Case Adds to Outrage for Muslims in Northern Virginia By JAMES DAO and ERIC LICHTBLAU ALLS CHURCH, Va., Feb. 25 - When the Saudi police burst into a classroom at the Islamic University of Medina during final exams two years ago and whisked away an American exchange student named Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, his imprisonment swiftly reverberated among Muslims in this Washington suburb. Mr. Abu Ali was never charged, and he spent 20 months in a Saudi prison where his family says he was whipped, tortured and starved. This week, he was finally returned to Virginia - only to face...

Followup to:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1349769/posts Defense attorneys and prosecutors are battling over whether to release a U.S. citizen charged with allegedly discussing a plot to assassinate President George W. Bush, as his family pursued suing the U.S. over his detention in Saudi Arabia.

WASHINGTON - The federal indictment of a graduate of a Saudi-backed Islamic school in suburban Virginia for plotting to kill President Bush is the latest example of the school's links to troubling activity, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., charged on Wednesday. Schumer said he is asking Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, to explain where the school receives all of its funding, and whether the school may be "a breeding ground for anti-American sentiment - and, possibly even terrorist activities." It has been widely reported the school receives substantial funding from the Saudi kingdom. Schumer...

WASHINGTON -- The family of a 23-year-old Muslim scholar accused of plotting with al-Qaida to kill President Bush said yesterday they want to sue the Bush administration for allowing their son's detention and alleged torture in a Saudi prison. Ahmed Abu Ali "was tortured on orders of the USA; they are monsters," his mother, Faten, said outside a federal courtroom. The young man's father, Omar, said, "The Saudi government are slaves of the Americans" and the U.S. government is lying when it says his son was under Saudi control for the 20 months before he was flown to the United...

Emergency Announcement. Thursday - February 24, 2005 Islamic Saudi Academy will be closed today. Offices are open with a liberal leave policy in effect.

If anyone is interested, O'Reilly just did a segment and is doing another one attacking the MSM for sympathizing for that lunatic saudi (even though he was palnning to assasinate Bush; usual culprits supporting him; the Washington Post and New York Times), but not giving the benfit to the Marine who shot the Iraqi in the mosque in Fallujah. Does it surprise anyone that the MSM is supporting terrorists over our own soldiers?

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The source of one of the most sensational accusations against an American allegedly involved in a plot to kill President Bush is dead. According to the most recent government filings in the case against Ahmed Omar Abu Ali (search) that advocate his pretrial detention, the Virginia resident discussed a plot to kill the president with a member of Al Qaeda who was later killed in a shootout with Saudi law enforcement around September 2003. Abu Ali was charged Tuesday with the alleged plot, which prosecutors said was hatched while he studied in Saudi Arabia in 2002 and...

SAUDI 'SOLDIER' BY STEPHEN SCHWARTZ IN Alexandria, Va., on Tuesday, a 23-year-old Northern Virginia man of Saudi Arabian background named Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was charged with conspiring to assassinate President Bush. Abu Ali and his accomplices are accused of plotting to kill the president by gunfire or a car bomb. The indictment also spells out such criminal activities as assisting and receiving support from Osama bin Laden's band of murderers. Abu Ali was extradited to Virginia after many months in a Saudi jail. What's most remarkable about this case is the degree to which this would-be assassin is a...

Apt Pupil By Ben JohnsonFrontPageMagazine.com | February 24, 2005This week, the Justice Department accused 23-year-old Virginia native Ahmed Omar Abu Ali of plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush. Media coverage has predictably centered on Abu Ali’s claims of torture while he was held in a Saudi Arabian prison and on the fact that the accused was “his high school’s valedictorian.” Largely omitted from this coverage is the fact that his high school operates under the authority of the Saudi Arabian government, teaches an extremist form of Wahhabi Islam, and has direct ties to at least three other terrorists...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 - An American student who was imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for the last 20 months was returned to the United States and accused by the Justice Department on Tuesday of plotting with members of Al Qaeda in 2003 to assassinate President Bush. In an indictment unsealed in federal court in Alexandria, Va., the student, a 23-year-old American citizen named Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, is charged with providing material support for terrorism. Mr. Abu Ali is accused of training with Al Qaeda overseas and wanting to "become a planner of terrorist operations" like Mohammed Atta or Khalid Shaikh...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES A Falls Church man detained in Saudi Arabia as a terror suspect was charged yesterday in federal court in Virginia with providing material support and resources to al Qaeda as part of a conspiracy to assassinate President Bush. A federal grand jury indictment handed up in U.S. District Court in Alexandria said Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen and 1999 valedictorian of the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, met with al Qaeda terrorists in Saudi Arabia to discuss plans for him to kill Mr. Bush with either a gun or car bomb.

Kin Defend Suspect in Alleged Bush Plot By MATTHEW BARAKAT ASSOCIATED PRESS ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - 0222DV-Bush-Plot Family and friends who packed a Virginia courtroom to support Ahmed Omar Abu Ali laughed out loud when prosecutors alleged that the former high school valedictorian had plotted to assassinate President Bush. Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen who grew up in Falls Church, was charged Tuesday with conspiring with al-Qaida to kill the president in a plan that prosecutors said was hatched while the man studied in Saudi Arabia in 2002 and 2003. Those who know Abu Ali said the accusation simply...

WASHINGTON - A Virginia man accused of plotting with al-Qaida to kill President Bush should be held indefinitely, federal prosecutors said Wednesday in court filings that also rejected his contention that he was tortured while held in Saudi Arabia. At a court hearing a day earlier in Alexandria, Va., 23-year-old Ahmed Abu Ali offered to display scars on his back as proof that he was tortured by Saudi authorities. In their filing Wednesday, prosecutors said, "There is no credible evidence to support those claims." Abu Ali never complained about his treatment during several meetings with an American diplomat in Saudi...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Virginia man accused of plotting with al-Qaida to kill President Bush should be held indefinitely, federal prosecutors said Wednesday in court filings that also rejected his contention that he was tortured while held in Saudi Arabia. At a court hearing a day earlier in Alexandria, Va., 23-year-old Ahmed Abu Ali offered to display scars on his back as proof that he was tortured by Saudi authorities. In their filing Wednesday, prosecutors said, "There is no credible evidence to support those claims." Abu Ali never complained about his treatment during several meetings with an American diplomat in...

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- An American citizen handed over by Saudi Arabia should remain in custody because "he presents an exceptionally grave danger to the community and a serious flight risk," the lead prosecutor said in court papers filed Wednesday. U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty filed his motion ahead of a detention hearing for 23-year-old Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, an alleged al Qaeda member. Abu Ali was detained for 20 months in Saudi Arabia before being transferred to U.S. custody this week. Abu Ali is charged with providing material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization -- al Qaeda. Prosecutors...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A former Virginia high school valedictorian who had been detained in Saudi Arabia as a suspected terrorist was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and with supporting the al-Qaida terrorist network. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court but did not enter a plea. He claimed that he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June of 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars. The federal indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified...

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. citizen Ahmed Omar Abu-Ali was charged in federal court Tuesday with plotting to assassinate President Bush with either a gun or a car bomb. Abu-Ali was named in a six-count terrorism indictment in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., upon his return from Saudi Arabia, where he had been held for nearly two years, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. He was ordered held without bond and a detention hearing was scheduled for Thursday.

Feb 22, 10:51 AM (ET) By MATTHEW BARAKAT ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A former Virginia high school valedictorian who had been detained in Saudi Arabia as a suspected terrorist was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and with supporting the al-Qaida terrorist network. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court but did not enter a plea. He claimed that he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June of 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars. The federal indictment said that in...

Virginia man charged in alleged plot to assassinate Bush By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A former high school valedictorian in Virginia was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and conspiracy to support the al-Qaida terrorist network. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court. He claimed that he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June of 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars. The indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified coconspirator...