04/04/2005

By MATTHEW BARAKAT  / Associated Press

The political and religious beliefs of Ali al-Timimi are hateful and repellant, his lawyer concedes, but he urged a jury Monday to set that aside as they decide whether al-Timimi is guilty of inducing others to support the Taliban and fight U.S. troops.

The jury heard opening statements in the trial of al-Timimi, 41, a Fairfax resident and Islamic scholar with an international reputation, who is accused of urging his followers just days after the Sept. 11 attacks to travel to Afghanistan and defend the Taliban against a looming U.S. invasion.

Al-Timimi's lead defense lawyer, Edward MacMahon, told jurors that they will likely be offended by some of al-Timimi's views and that some of his writings and speeches "rise to the level of hate speech."

Among other things, prosecutors intend to introduce evidence in which al-Timimi said the United States is the greatest enemy of Islam and a February 2003 e-mail in the aftermath of the space shuttle Columbia disaster, which al-Timimi wrote was "a good omen" that "Western supremacy (especially that of America) that began 500 years ago is coming to an end, God willing."

"You may hate him when this case is over; you may never want to see him again," MacMahon said to the jury about his client. "But I'm convinced you will not find him guilty."

Prosecutor Gordon Kromberg, in his opening statement, said he was not asking the jury to convict al-Timimi because of his political or religious beliefs.

"This case is not about Islam. It's not about whether he practiced mainstream Islam or extremist Islam," Kromberg said. "We're not going to prove or attempt to prove what Islam says. We're only going to prove what this man said and what he did."

Al-Timimi faces six charges, including attempting to aid the Taliban and conspiracy to counsel others to levy war against the United States.

The crux of the case will likely be a Sept. 16, 2001 meeting attended by al-Timimi at a Fairfax home. Prosecutors and defense lawyers agree al-Timimi was there but differ on what occurred.

Kromberg said al-Timimi was the featured speaker, and that his international reputation gave him "rock star" status among his followers, many of whom were recent converts to Islam who had acquired most of their religious knowledge from al-Timimi.

"A lot of his students held him in awe. ... They revered him. They loved him," Kromberg said.

At that meeting, Kromberg said al-Timimi offered an apocalyptic interpretation of the Sept. 11 attacks, that they heralded the final battle between Muslims and non-believers, and that Muslims were obligated to defend the Taliban regime.

Three people who attended that meeting later traveled to Pakistan and received military training from a group called Lashkar-e-Taiba, with the ultimate goal of using that training on the Taliban's behalf.

No one from the group ever made it to Afghanistan, but at least two group members have admitted their goal was to join the Taliban and that al-Timimi inspired them to do so.

Al-Timimi's lawyers dispute this, and say that al-Timimi simply told group members that they should emigrate to a Muslim country.

The government has acknowledged that different people at the meeting have different recollections of what was said, and MacMahon pointed out that the witnesses whose versions hew most closely to the government line have struck plea bargains and are hoping to get jail time reduced.

MacMahon said the real villain in the case is Randall Royer, a convert to Islam and a Muslim activist who had fought in Bosnia and trained with Lashkar-e-Taiba. Royer, a St. Louis native, was at the Sept. 16, 2001 meeting and had a long history of encouraging fellow Muslims to train with Lashkar, which the United States designated a terrorist entity in December 2001.

Royer, like many of the expected witnesses at al-Timimi's trial, was a member of what prosecutors called a "Virginia jihad group" that played paintball in northern Virginia in 2000 and 2001 as a means of training for holy war around the globe.

Nine of the 11 people charged by the government in the Virginia jihad cases were convicted, receiving prison sentences ranging from three years to life. Royer was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Al-Timimi's trial is expected to last up to three weeks. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.