They are associated with Lashkar-e-Toiba, a group based in Pakistan and dedicated to taking Kashmir from India, among other things. This group is part of al Qaeda's network "against Jews and Crusaders" or whatever they call it. Al Qaeda has since 911 changed names again so it's hard to keep up...
* Prof. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed of the University of Engineering and Technology of Lahore - "Lashkar e Taiba: A Backgrounder," EXTRACTS FROM PAPER DATED 26-8-1998, TITLED " MARKAZ DAWA AL IRSHAD: TALIBANISATION OF NUCLEAR PAKISTAN
* Ali Al-Timimi, Fairfax, Va. Islamic lecturer, U.S. son of Iraqi immigrants - "The search warrants," StLToday.com , St. Louis Post Dispatch , 06/12/2003
Cleric at a northern Virginia Islamic center - "FBI arrests at least 7 with suspected terror ties ," CNN , Friday, June 27, 2003
Ali Al-Timimi, an Islamic scholar whose home was also searched - "12 Washington-area Muslims investigated for alleged terrorist ties," By Karen Branch-Brioso, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thu, Jun. 12, 2003
* Hammad Abdur-Raheem of northern Virginia - "FBI arrests at least 7 with suspected terror ties ," CNN , Friday, June 27, 2003 Posted: 10:18 AM EDT (1418 GMT)
* Ismail Royer [aka Randall Royer] of northern Virginia - "FBI arrests at least 7 with suspected terror ties ," CNN , Friday, June 27, 2003 Posted: 10:18 AM EDT (1418 GMT)
Traveled to Bosnia after 9/11.2001
Royer, who said he met members of the group while fighting with the Bosnian Army in the mid-1990s, said he went to Pakistan and helped write press releases and set up a worldwide e-mail list for Lashakar-I-Taiba in 2000. He said he gave al-Hamdi and Kwon a contact number for Lashkar-I-Taiba leaders when they traveled to Pakistan. Al-Hamdi traveled there [to Pakistan] before the attacks on Sept. 11, Royer said; Kwon left shortly after the post-Sept. 11 dinner meeting with al-Timimi; Royer said Kwon told him he left Pakistan before the group was put on the terrorist list.- "12 Washington-area Muslims investigated for alleged terrorist ties," By Karen Branch-Brioso, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thu, Jun. 12, 2003
Traveled to Bosnia after 9/11.2001
* Royer, who said he met members of the group while fighting with the Bosnian Army in the mid-1990s, said he went to Pakistan and helped write press releases and set up a worldwide e-mail list for Lashakar-I-Taiba in 2000. He said he gave al-Hamdi and Kwon a contact number for Lashkar-I-Taiba leaders when they traveled to Pakistan. Al-Hamdi traveled there [to Pakistan] before the attacks on Sept. 11, Royer said; Kwon left shortly after the post-Sept. 11 dinner meeting with al-Timimi; Royer said Kwon told him he left Pakistan before the group was put on the terrorist list.- "12 Washington-area Muslims investigated for alleged terrorist ties," By Karen Branch-Brioso, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thu, Jun. 12, 2003
* Ismail Royer is also called Randall Royer; see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/938532/posts (his web blog linked to white supremacist types)
* Al-Hamdi has also remained in prison after unsuccessfully claiming diplomatic immunity - with the Yemeni embassy's full support. He faces sentencing Aug. 1 on the weapons charge. Salim Ali, his lawyer, said Al-Hamdi hadn't realized it was illegal for aliens to have a weapon if they're in the country on a non-immigrant visa. - "12 Washington-area Muslims investigated for alleged terrorist ties," By Karen Branch-Brioso, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thu, Jun. 12, 2003
* Ahmed Abu-Ali : is being held in Saudi Arabia by officials probing the May 12 bombings in Riyadh that killed nine attackers and 25 other people. - "GLOBAL JIHAD : Americans charged in 'holy-war' plot : Accused of conspiring to train on U.S. soil for battle overseas," WorldNetDaily.com , June 27, 2003
Ahmed Abu-Ali : One suspect, identified as Ahmed Abu-Ali, also has been taken into custody in Saudi Arabia by officials there who are investigating the May 12 bombings in Riyadh in which nine attackers and 25 other people were killed, U.S. officials said. - "Pa. man arrested as suspected terrorist," The Philadelphia Enquirer, philly.com, Fri, Jun. 27, 2003
* Salim Ali : Is al-Hamdi's lawyer. "There is no terrorist ring, and once the investigation is complete, they'll realize that the individuals are innocent," said Salim Ali, the lawyer for Ibrahim al-Hamdi. - "12 Washington-area Muslims investigated for alleged terrorist ties," By Karen Branch-Brioso, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thu, Jun. 12, 2003
* Ibrahim al-Hamdi : Al-Hamdi, 25, is a son of the former second-in-command at the Yemeni embassy and a relative of the slain North Yemeni president of the same name. Al-Hamdi pleaded guilty of possessing a semiautomatic rifle, a weapon that would have been legal had he been a U.S. citizen. He is being held without bond. - "12 Washington-area Muslims investigated for alleged terrorist ties," By Karen Branch-Brioso, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thu, Jun. 12, 2003
* Masaud Khan : What the government described as a "grenade launcher" was found at the Maryland home of Masaud Khan, a U.S.-born, Pakistani-reared kitchen designer. Gordon Kromberg, the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case, said he believes that the item turned out to be a flare gun."I'm not suggesting there should be no concern, but if a guy had a grenade launcher, presumably we would have arrested the guy," Kromberg said. "It's very easy to jump to conclusions on facts like these. You know the guys are playing paintball, they're playing soldiers," said Kromberg, who said he has donned fatigues himself and played paintball. "On the other hand, if they're doing more than that, maybe there's a problem." - "12 Washington-area Muslims investigated for alleged terrorist ties," By Karen Branch-Brioso, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thu, Jun. 12, 2003 * Danny Onerato : Masaud Kahn's lawyer, Danny Onerato, said Khan was "a law-abiding citizen. Mr. Khan hasn't been arrested, and we don't anticipate him being arrested." Onerato said he believes that, since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, judges are more willing to authorize search warrants when agents are seeking evidence related to terrorist activity. "You need probable cause, but there's a lax standard in these cases," Onerato said. "No one is going to want to be the judge who does not sign off on a search warrant (where there's potential terrorist activity)."- "12 Washington-area Muslims investigated for alleged terrorist ties," By Karen Branch-Brioso, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thu, Jun. 12, 2003
And introducing a Gulf War Vet...
* Hammad Abdur-Raheem : But another suspect, Hammad Abdur-Raheem, predicts the inquiry may end differently. "They're probably going to arrest all of us and try to charge us (for) material support of terrorist group or conspiracy or sleeper cell," said Abdur-Raheem, 35, a Gulf War Army veteran and Washington [DC?] native who converted to Islam in 1994. "I'm trying to get my family ready for it. On the one hand, I can't blame (the prosecutors) - I saw September 11, too. But what I say to them is, `Go get the guys responsible for September 11, but don't get innocent people because of the actions of some idiots.'" Abdur-Raheem said most of the men regularly attended al-Timimi's lectures, which began informally at homes and then were held at the Center for Islamic Information and Education in Falls Church, Va. But after Sept. 11, he said, the board of the center parted ways with the scholar, who travels widely to give Islamic lectures, both in the United States and abroad.
In an e-mailed response, al-Timimi told the Post-Dispatch there was no "split" with the center's leaders and that they had continued to seek his advice. He said he stopped lecturing publicly in the United States after Sept. 11, "as emotionally charged environments are not hospitable for analysis or intellectual criticism."- "12 Washington-area Muslims investigated for alleged terrorist ties," By Karen Branch-Brioso, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thu, Jun. 12, 2003 * Caliph Basha Raheem, whose Virginia apartment was searched on May 8, said that subjects of paintball and team members' foreign travel came up repeatedly with FBI agents who questioned him before the search. "They told me that, `We know it was jihad training.' They think (the paintball) was training to go overseas and fight, basically, because some people went overseas after Sept. 11, and a couple of others are still overseas," said Raheem, 29, who said the paintball games, which fluctuated from five to 30 players until they abruptly stopped after Sept. 11, 2001, were different things to different people. "I can't speak for everybody else, but for me, I was just training to prepare myself if I have to defend myself and my family one day. I wasn't planning on going anywhere. I don't even have a passport." - "12 Washington-area Muslims investigated for alleged terrorist ties," By Karen Branch-Brioso, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thu, Jun. 12, 2003