Author: AP
Publication: ABC 7 News
Date: August 25, 2006
URL: http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0806/355627.html
A former third-grade teacher at a Muslim school
was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for providing support to a Pakistani
terrorist organization.
Ali Asad Chandia, 29, who taught at the al-Huda
school in College Park, Md., is one of 11 Muslim men convicted in what prosecutors
called a "Virginia jihad network." The network involved a group
of men who played paintball in the Virginia woods in 2000 and 2001 to train
for global holy war.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, some group members
turned their efforts against the United States, traveling to Pakistan with
the goal of receiving military training and joining the Taliban in its fight
against U.S. troops. None ever made it into Afghanistan.
Prosecutors argued that Chandia had attended
a training camp run by Lashkar-e-Taiba, which the U.S. government designated
as a terrorist organization in December 2001.
A jury did not convict Chandia of attending
a Lashkar camp, but found him guilty of providing material support to a senior
Lashkar officer on his trips to the U.S. in 2002 and 2003.
Specifically, Chandia was found guilty of
serving as a driver for the Lashkar officer, Mohammed Ajmal Khan, and helping
Lashkar ship 50,000 paintball pellets from the U.S. to Pakistan.
At his sentencing hearing Friday, Chandia
maintained his innocence and said he would exact revenge against prosecutors
in the afterlife.
"God knows well that I did not support
any terrorists," Chandia said. "Those who participated in making
my children orphans ... should just remember that the day of judgment is on
the way."
He continued: "If my parents should die
before me, I ask my mother to plead and complain to Allah that a piece of
her heart was taken away because of some toy paintballs."
The sentence handed down by U.S. District
Judge Claude Hilton was less than the 30 years sought by prosecutors and more
than the five- to six-year range that defense lawyer Marvin Miller said would
have been appropriate under the sentencing guidelines.
Miller noted that a 30-year sentence would
be equal to that given to Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who was convicted of plotting
with al-Qaida (website - news) to assassinate President Bush (website - news
- bio) . It also would be significantly more than some in the paintball group
received after accepting plea bargains and admitting that they traveled to
Pakistan and received training from Lashkar with the goal of fighting U.S.
troops.
"You have a school teacher who gave a
guy a ride, let him use a computer and helped him ship some paintballs, and
they want 30 years, and I wonder where justice is," Miller said.
Prosecutor David Laufman said lending support
to Lashkar merits a stiff sentence.
"Lashkar-e-Taiba is not as well known
as al-Qaida or Hezbollah, but it is a terrorist organization. It kills people,"
Laufman said.
