Jeffrey Leon Battle was a member of a terrorist group dubbed the
Portland Seven The Portland Seven was a group of United States, American Islam, Muslims from the Portland, Oregon area arrested in October 2002 as part of an FBI operation attempting to close down a terrorism, terrorist cell. The seven were attempting to join al Q ...
, some members of which attempted to travel to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
shortly after
9/11 in order to aid the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...
. He refused to cooperate with the government and was sentenced to eighteen years in prison after pleading guilty to
seditious
Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...
conspiracy and levying war against the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. He had two years added to his sentence for refusing to testify before a grand jury.
Background
Jeffrey Leon Battle had a checkered past. According to an article in the ''Star-Ledger'',
"Battle was a ne'er-do-well, a one-time
Mary Kay cosmetics
Mary Kay Inc. is an American privately owned multi-level marketing company. According to '' Direct Selling News'', Mary Kay was the sixth largest network marketing company in the world in 2018, with a wholesale volume of US$3.25 billion. representative who was trying to wriggle out of his commitment to the U.S. Army reserves after washing out in boot camp."
Jeffrey Leon Battle moved to Portland in the late 1990s from
Houston, Texas, where he served as a bodyguard for
New Black Panther leader and community activist
Quanell X
Quanell X (; born Quanell Ralph Evans; December 7, 1970) is an activist and leader of the New Black Panthers, New Black Panther Nation in Houston, Texas.
Early life
Quanell Ralph Evans was born in Los Angeles, California. Both his mother and ...
.
First contact with law enforcement
On September 29, 2001, a group of men from what would later be termed the Portland Seven were engaged in shooting practice at a gravel pit in
Skamania County
Skamania County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,036. The county seat and largest incorporated city is Stevenson, although the Carson River Valley CDP is more populous. The ...
, located in southern
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, including Battle, Ford, al Saoub and Ali Khaled Steitiye, who was not a member of the Portland Seven but convicted in 2002 on firearms, fraud and immigration charges and testified against the others in 2004 as part of a plea agreement in a weapons-possession charge. The group was discovered by Deputy Sheriff Mark Mercer who was acting on a tip from a neighbor who had heard gunfire in the pit. Deputy Mercer let the men go after taking their names and reported the incident to the FBI. Battle was taped in a secretly recorded conversation indicating the members of the Portland Seven who were at the gravel pit had considered killing Deputy Mercer. “We was up there blowin it up … We was lightin’ it up …
looked at it as worship because what our intentions were, to learn to shoot for. And a cop came up and he was like hey … you don’t understand how close he was gonna get popped … yeah, we was gonna pop him.” Battle later indicated they had opted not to kill the officer because he seemed "cool".
According to the indictment, on October 17, 2001, Battle and al Saoub flew out of
Portland International Airport
Portland International Airport is a joint civil–military airport and the largest airport in the U.S. state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of the state's passenger air travel and more than 95% of its air cargo. It is within Portland's city l ...
en route to Afghanistan. On October 20, 2001, Ford and the two Bilals also took the same route out of the United States.
Between October 2001 and January 2002, Lewis wired a series of money orders to Battle in
China and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
.
In January 2002 Battle was
administratively discharged from the military. Battle returned to the U.S. on or about February 5, 2002. The six male members of the group travelled to China in early 2002, with the intent of entering Afghanistan to aid the Taliban. Lacking visas and other documentation, they were turned back, and all but al Saoub then returned again to the United States.
On October 3, 2002, a federal grand jury in
United States District Court for the District of Oregon
The United States District Court for the District of Oregon (in case citations, D. Ore. or D. Or.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the state of Oregon. It was created in 1859 when the state was admitted to the Union ...
in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
, indicted Battle, Ford, the two Bilals, al Saoub and Lewis. On October 4, 2002 the FBI in Portland, announced the arrest of four of those original six on charges of aiding and, in some cases, trying to join Al-Qaida fighters. Battle, Ford and Lewis were all arrested that morning in Portland.
Trial
Battle and
October Martinique Lewis, another member of the Portland Seven, were married in 1999, divorcing after five months (although they continued to live together). According to Lewis' mother, Lewis and Battle had worked in a Portland retirement home.
Battle's attorney said that Battle was motivated by a religious desire to help fellow
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
. However, prosecutors maintain that Battle had earlier considered committing a different terrorist act in the United States. "He had said he wanted to kill hundreds of
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
at a Portland-area
synagogue or Jewish school."
Fate of other members of the Portland Seven
Patrice Lumumba Ford,
Jeffrey Leon Battle, October Lewis,
Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, his brother
Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal,
Maher "Mike" Hawash, and
Habis Abdulla al Saoub made up the original seven members wanted by the FBI. Al Saoub was killed by
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
i forces in Afghanistan while part of an
al Qaeda cell. Ford is also serving an eighteen-year sentence. Lewis was sentenced to three years in a federal prison camp. Muhammad Bilal got eight years while Ahmed Bilal got ten. Hawash was sentenced to seven years.
References
External links
The Oregonian's news archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle, Jeffrey
20th-century births
Living people
American Islamists
Muslims with branch missing
Year of birth missing (living people)