{"id":1982,"date":"2005-04-28T18:44:00","date_gmt":"2005-04-28T23:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1982"},"modified":"2005-04-28T18:44:00","modified_gmt":"2005-04-28T23:44:00","slug":"paintball_jihad_imam_ali_al_timimi_convicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2005\/04\/paintball_jihad_imam_ali_al_timimi_convicted\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali al&#045;Timimi: &#8220;Paintball jihad&#8221; imam convicted"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/ali_al-timimi.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\">\n<div class=\"caption\">Is this one of those omens I was talking about?<\/div>\n<p><\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>While <a href=\"http:\/\/www.contracostatimes.com%2Fmld%2Fcctimes%2Fnews%2F11500333.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">on trial<\/a> for allegedly inciting his followers to wage war against the US, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.contracostatimes.com%2Fmld%2Fcctimes%2Fnews%2F11500333.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ali al-Timimi<\/a> must have known his chances of vindication were slim when his defense attorney Edward B. MacMahon admitted that his words rose \u201cto the level of hate speech\u201d and that \u201cMuslims around the world believe that the United States is their greatest enemy.\u201d  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.altimimi.org\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">al-Timimi<\/a>, 41-year old US-born imam who was said to have \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theunionleader.com%2Farticles_showa.html%3Farticle%3D52921\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">rock star<\/a>\u201d status among Muslim youth (move over, <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk%2F2%2Fhi%2Fuk_news%2Fwales%2Fsouth_east%2F3659683.stm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Hamza Yusuf<\/a>), has been active in conservative Muslim circles, and most notably <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com%2Fac2%2Fwp-dyn%2FA31402-2003Oct1%3Flanguage%3Dprinter\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">organized<\/a> an all-male delegation to the 1996 World Conference on Women in Beijing to make sure the \u201cproper\u201d Islamic view on women was presented.  <\/p>\n<p>While serving as an imam in Falls Church, Virginia, Timimi got <a href=\"http:\/\/muslimlinkpaper.com%2Fpdf%2FTML_aug20_Screen.pdf\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">caught up<\/a> in what the government calls a \u201cVirginia jihad network\u201d that has already netted 10 convictions (remember <a href=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com%2Fperm.php%3Fid%3D1041_0_26_0_C\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Randall \u201cIsmail\u201d Royer<\/a>?), most for involvement in anti-India and pro-Taliban activities immediately following 9\/11.  This week, al-Timimi was <a href=\"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com%2Fhtml%2Fnationworld%2F2002254391_terror27.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">convicted<\/a> of (mis)leading several young Muslims to take up arms for various Islamic causes \u2013 although he never did so himself.  \u201cBy his treasonous criminal acts, he has proven himself to be a kingpin of hate against America,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com%2F2005%2FLAW%2F04%2F26%2Fcleric.trial%2F\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">said<\/a> US Attorney Paul McNulty (somewhat melodramatically) in a statement.  <\/p>\n<p>The convictions \u2013 which were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2005%2F04%2F26%2FAR2005042600490.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">aided<\/a> by testimony from many of the aforementioned \u201cpaintball jihadists\u201d currently in prison \u2013 carry a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without parole, but Judge Leonie Brinkema left open the possibility that she will toss out some of the counts.   With <a href=\"http:\/\/www.frontpagemag.com%2FArticles%2FReadArticle.asp%3FID%3D17875\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">few exceptions<\/a>, most Muslim organizations who commented on the matter came to al-Timimi\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amirbutler.com%2Farchives%2F2004%2F11%2F03%2F13\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">defense<\/a>, claiming that al-Timimi was <a href=\"http:\/\/nyc.indymedia.org%2Fnewswire%2Fdisplay%2F147963%2Findex.php\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">entitled to his views<\/a>, no matter how repugnant (and apparently, no matter how damaging to the American Muslim community).   \u201cAll this man has done is exercise the rights all American citizens have,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2005%2F04%2F26%2FAR2005042600490.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">explained<\/a> MacMahon in court. \u201cHe has uttered words, folks, mere words.\u201d  (\u201cWhen Tony Soprano says go whack some guy,\u201d rebutted Assistant US Attorney Gordon Kromberg, \u201cthat\u2019s not protected speech.\u201d)  <\/p>\n<p>But life in prison for words spoken isn\u2019t close to what British citizen (and non-Muslim) Hemant Lakhani will be getting for his <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk%2F2%2Fhi%2Fuk_news%2F4491317.stm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">conviction<\/a>, also last week, for trying to import and sell shoulder-fired missiles for use by terrorists in the US.  Caught red-handed on videotape, Lakhani will get a maximum of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.itv.com%2Fnews%2Fworld_771731.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">25 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can an imam be held liable for what his students do, or try to do?  Virginia imam Ali al-Timimi gets convicted of inspiring young Muslims to take up arms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":530,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ali al&#045;Timimi: &#8220;Paintball jihad&#8221; imam convicted<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Can an imam be held liable for what his students do, or try to do? 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