Gonna be a rough spell in the big house for this one, I think:
Saying his words steered young men into terrorist training camps that are the lifeblood of a movement that plants bombs on subways and trains, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema sentenced an American Islamic scholar to life in prison Wednesday.
Ali al-Timimi, 42, of Fairfax, Va., who had ties to a now-defunct Pittsburgh-based magazine that advocated holy war, was convicted in a lengthy jury trial in federal court here last spring of recruiting a group of northern Virginia men to travel to Pakistan and train to take up arms for the Taliban. The men, who played paintball and went to shooting ranges to train for holy war, were dubbed the Virginia Paintball Jihad.
Before the trial, nine of al-Timimi’s followers were convicted or pleaded guilty in the conspiracy prosecutors said grew in the shadow of the nation’s capital in the days before 9/11 and blossomed on al-Timimi’s advice in the week after the terrorist attacks.
Al-Timimi’s conviction for soliciting treason and other charges marked the first post-9/11 trial in which the government won a terrorism verdict for actions tied to words designed to aid the enemy, rather than actual deeds such as providing money, equipment or engaging in combat.
Am I the only one who missed this?