The Virginia jihad network was a group of young men centered in

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

that were accused of conspiring to train and participate in violence overseas. The men, Muhammed Aatique, Hammad Abdur-Raheem, Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Hamdi, Seifullah Chapman, Khwaja Hasan, Masoud Khan, Yong Kwon, Randall Todd Royer and Donald Surratt, were found guilty of various terrorism-related offences.

Convictions

Ali al-Timimi was found guilty of exhorting his followers to join the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

and fight US troops.

Ali Asad Chandia Ali Asad Chandia (b. in Lahore, Pakistan) was a teacher at a school in Maryland in the United States. Chandia was accused of providing material support for terrorism to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a U.S.-designated Pakistani terrorist organization.

was a teacher at a school in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and was accused of providing material support to

Lashkar-e-Taiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...

, a U.S.-designated

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

terrorist organization A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...

.Terrorism suspect released on bond
Diamondback Online Chandia was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with three years of supervised release at the end of his incarcerationTeacher at College Park school sentenced for aiding terrorists
Gazette, Maryland Community Newspapers Online
The Washington Post Randall Todd Royer pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting the use and discharge of a firearm and carrying of an explosion in relation to a crime and during the commission of a felony. These counts stemmed from assisting other young men to gain entry to the

training camp. Three other individuals attending that meeting, Yong Kwon, Muhammed Aatique, and Khwaja Hasan—all of whom pleaded guilty—stated that they went to the Lashkar-e-Taiba camp to obtain combat training for the purpose engaging in violent jihad in

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 ...

against the American troops that they expected would soon invade that country. Al-Hamdi also admitted to carrying a rocket-propelled grenade in furtherance of a conspiracy to undertake a military operation against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Seifullah Chapman maintained his intention to travel to the training camp was for a grueling physical challenge, not to seek out fighting in a holy war. Masoud Khan, Seifullah Chapman and Hammad Abdur-Raheem all were convicted of conspiring to provide material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and to attack India in violation of the

Neutrality Act of 1794 The Neutrality Act of 1794 was a United States law which made it illegal for a United States citizen to wage war against any country at peace with the United States. The Act declares in part: If any person shall within the territory or jurisdi ...

, as well as of various firearms related offenses, for conduct that spanned from 2000 to 2003. U.S. District Judge

Leonie Brinkema Leonie Helen Milhomme Brinkema (born June 26, 1944) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Early life and education She was born as Leonie Milhomme in Teaneck, New Jersey. She ...

considered the sentences "draconian" and suggested preferring to imposing a lesser sentence for some of the convicted men.

Aftermath

A 2011

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

report claimed some of the people associated with this group were imprisoned in a highly restrictive

Communication Management Unit A communications management unit (CMU) is a type of self-contained group within a facility in the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons that severely restricts, manages and monitors all outside communication (telephone, mail, visitation) of inmat ...

. A federal judge in Virginia ordered Seifullah Chapman, one of the convicted men from the case serving a 65-year sentence, to be released from prison in July 2018. The decision stemmed from a recent

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

case that overturned a law that was found to be unconstitutionally vague in the way it described a crime. Chapman argued his initial conviction of violating a law was vague in the way it described "a crime of violence". A month later, the same judge vacated the convictions of Masoud Khan, a second man from the case serving a life-sentence, based on the same argument made by Chapman. On January 13, 2009, Yong Ki Kwon testified by video link in the Sydney trial of five men accused of planning a terrorist attack in Australia.http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2465142.htm Accessed August 3, 2011.

References

DATA & GRAPHICS: Population Of The Communications Management Units
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307093207/http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134227726/data-graphics-population-of-the-communications-management-units , date=2011-03-07 , Margot Williams and Alyson Hurt,

, 3-3-11, retrieved 2011 03 04 from npr.org Islamic terrorism in the United States Failed terrorist attempts in the United States