Top row, left to right: Patrice Lumumba Ford, October Martinique Lewis and Jeffrey Leon Battle. Bottom row, left to right: Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, and Habis Abdulla Al-Saoub are seen in these undated handout photos.
Posted on 11/24/2003 12:52:12 PM PST by kattracks
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Two American Muslims who tried to join the Taliban were sentenced to 18 years in prison Monday during a hearing in which they denounced the Bush administration and pleaded in song for freedom.Patrice Lumumba Ford, 32, and Jeffrey Leon Battle, 33, had pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to levy war against the United States.
Both said that in trying to reach Afghanistan, they were fulfilling their Islamic duty to defend fellow Muslims.
"The attack on Afghanistan killed and maimed thousands of people without achieving its objective," said Ford, who had traveled to China in an unsuccessful attempt to reach Afghanistan. "I refuse to stand passive in the face of such policies."
Ford, once an intern at Portland's City Hall, said he felt obliged as a Muslim to defend his fellow Muslims against "President Bush's cruise-missile diplomacy."
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones admonished Ford by saying: "You do not represent the Muslim faith. Muslims do not engage in the activities you engaged in. You are an insult to that faith."
Battle, a former Army reservist, also spoke of his obligations as a Muslim and concluded by singing a 10-minute song he said he had written in prison. The courtroom was silent during the song, which ended with the stanza, "Free, free, free, for all humanity, release me."
Battle and Ford were among six people accused of conspiring to travel to Afghanistan in 2001 and fight U.S. troops after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A seventh was charged with providing financial support.
Four of the others pleaded guilty, and a fifth was killed in a shootout in Pakistan.
Top row, left to right: Patrice Lumumba Ford, October Martinique Lewis and Jeffrey Leon Battle.
Bottom row, left to right: Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, and Habis Abdulla Al-Saoub are seen in these undated handout photos.
Patrice Lumumba Ford, October Martinique Lewis would seem to be as much influenced by Marxism as mohammedanism. Habis Abdulla Al-Saoub looks like a Klingon...
The statement that "There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold" has been entered into the record. Now would the defendant please get to the point.
IMHO, that was justice.
Geez, pal, this ain't "American Idol".
Just a wild guess, but with good behavior, they'll be out in 12 (maybe less). And they'll probably be studying for the bar exam while they're in there.
May I add, he was assigned to current Portland Mayor Vera Katz, who was a character witness, early on in the investigation.
Since when did judges become qualified as theologians?
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