Federal prosecutors claim link between Virginia terrorism suspects, al-Qaida

The Associated Press | 7/25/03 4:48 PM | MATTHEW BARAKAT

[freeperfromnj]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors who accuse nine U.S. citizens and two other men of conspiring to join a Muslim terror group presented an address list and other evidence Friday to try to link the suspects to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida group.

But the evidence wasn't enough to persuade U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to keep one defendant, Sabri Benkhala, in jail. Brinkema ordered Benkhala released to home detention at his father's house in Falls Church, upholding a previous release order issued by a magistrate.

"There's no question the government has raised some significant issues here," the judge said. "There's some smoke here, but I don't believe in this case the government has met its burden."

Benkhala, a U.S. citizen, was the fourth of the 11 defendants to be set free while awaiting their November trial on charges of training to join a Pakistani terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Laufman said Friday at a detention hearing for Benkhala that the suspects aimed to train with Lashkar so they could fight alongside the Taliban against Americans after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Prosecutors asserted that Benkhala has "a history of association with terror" and presented previously sealed evidence linking him to a man named Ahmed Abu-Ali, who was arrested in Saudi Arabia in the May 12 Riyadh bombings that claimed 25 victims.

Laufman said Abu-Ali, who once lived in Falls Church, joined an al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia in 2001, and was told he needed to either organize a terrorist operation or return to the United States and establish an al-Qaida cell.

Benkhala had Abu-Ali's phone number on a handwritten address list, Laufman said.

The phone list also included a contact for Ibrahim Buisir, a Libyan-born resident of Ireland who ran an Islamic charity suspected of funneling money to bin Laden, Laufman said.

John Benato, Benkhala's attorney, said Abu-Ali and Benkhala attended the same university in Saudi Arabia, and since Benkhala grew up in Falls Church and Abu-Ali lived there, it was natural they had known each other.

"The government has proffered that my client is guilty by association," Benato said.

Benkhala's father, Anthony, who put up his Falls Church home as collateral to ensure his son's presence at trial, said he has no doubt about his son's innocence.

"I knew all along my son is not a violent man," the elder Benkhala said.

[freeperfromnj]

Are there any new developments that made you look back on this? I've always thought there was a connection between Malvo and an AQ cell here in the U.S.

[angkor]

Also note, their meeting place, the LARGE mosque just a few hundred FEET east of the Home Depot shooting.

You're right. The walk from Home Depot to the Dar al-Hijra mosque would be about 10 minutes, perhaps less.

And Dal al-Hijra is a notorious hotbed of Wahabbism and Islamist militancy, and yes, also the place visited by several of the 9/11 hijackers. So I would think it would have a special appeal to apocalyptic nutballs such as Malvo and Muhammad. (Much was published about Dar al-Hijra right after 9/11, and its centrality among Islamist militants wasn't much of a secret).

My gut says you're right, but there's no way to prove it unless the perps admit to it.

[EllaMinnow]

And you are absolutely right. Here's Judge Brinkema's bio:

Education:

Douglass College, B.A., 1966.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduate studies in philosophy, 1966.
NYU, graduate studies in philosophy, 1967-1969.
Rutgers, M.L.S., 1970.
Cornell, J.D., 1976.
Work Experience.

U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, 1976-1977.
U.S. Attorney's office, E.D. Virginia, Criminal Division, 1977-1983.
U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, 1983-4.
Solo Practitioner, 1984-5.
U.S. Magistrate Judge, E.D. Virginia, 1985-1993.
U.S. District Court Judge.

Nominated by President Bill Clinton.
Entered duty 10/23/93.

[freeperfromnj]

Nominated by President Bill Clinton.

I was wondering about that. Thanks for posting it.

[EllaMinnow]

She's a real piece of work. The ACLU loves her.



"Judge Brinkema recently presided in two Internet related cases which received wide publicity, Urofsky v. Allen and Mainstream Loudoun v. Loudoun County Library.

See, Summary of Mainstream Loudoun v. Loudoun County Library.
In the Loudoun case website operators and authors whose web pages may have been blocked asked the federal court to prevent the county public library from using Internet blocking software on public access computers in the library. All plaintiffs alleged that use of the software violated their First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Judge Brinkema agreed, and found the library's policy unconstitutional. The library decided not to appeal.

The Congress is very likely to pass a bill requiring schools and libraries receiving e-rate subsidies to use filtering software. In the inevitable legal challenge, the ACLU will rely heavily on Judge Brinkema's November 23, 1998 Opinion in the Loudoun case.

In the Urofsky case several Virginia state employees challenged the constitutionality of a state statute barring state employees from using their computers at work to view porn. Judge Brinkema agreed, and held the statute unconstitutional. Virginia appealed, and Judge Brinkema was reversed by a unanimous Opinion of a three judge Court of Appeals panel."

http://www.techlawjournal.com/people/brinkema.htm

[Future Useless Eater]

>>any new developments that made you look back on this?

I was pinged in post 19 a couple days ago, I hadn't read this
thread before, and it contained some new linkage between
the Falls Church mosque and AQ that I hadn't heard
confirmed before.