Friday, June 25, 2010

June 24, 2010: Pakistan/U.S. - "D.C. Five" Convicted on Conspiracy, Funding Terror Group

Pakistan/U.S. - "D.C. Five" News Reports



http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/dc-five/dc-five.html


http://bit.ly/dcfive


June 24, 2010: Pakistan/U.S. - "D.C. Five" Convicted on
Conspiracy,
Funding Terror Group





From left to right: Waqar Khan, Ramy Zamzam, Umer Farooq, Ahmed
Abdullah
Minni, and Aman Hassan Yemer. (Photo: Sargodha Police Department)



--- Waqar Khan, Ramy Zamzam, Umar Chaudhry, Ahmad A. Minni, and Aman
Hassan Yemer

--- to serve concurrent terms for two charges of 10 years in prison each
-
Sargodha jail

--- Pakistan govt to appeal to seek longer terms

--- convicted of criminal conspiracy (10 year sentence each) and funding
a
banned terror organization (5 year sentence each)

--- Attended ICNA Center Mosque Youth
Group


in Alexandria, Virginia
- youth group leader says they never spoke
about
"politics or waging war"

--- FBI was

alerted by the families
who notified them of missing men, aged
between 19
and 25

--- Dubbed the "D.C. Five", the five were arrested in Punjabi city of
Sargodha
in December 2009 - initial investigations believed that "they had sought
to link
up with the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Jamaat ud Dawa militant
organizations"

--- The Pakistan prosecutors stated that the D.C. Five contacted
"extremist
groups" from the U.S. via YouTube and Facebook. The

Guardian news report
stated that ""Pakistani police alleged the men
had
contacted Taliban-linked extremists with the intention of
attacking the
Chashma
barrage
, a hydroelectric power plant near sensitive nuclear
facilities. They
also accused them of seeking to travel to Afghanistan."

---

Steven Emerson wrote in 2002
that ICNA had been linked to Pakistan's
Jamaat-e-Islamiya
(Jamaat-e-Islami),
by
featuring its leader Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmad at a June 30 to July 2,
2000
convention in Baltimore, MD.
Jamaat-e-Islami

reported keeps close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.


June 24, 2010 News Reports



--
VOA
Pakistani Court Finds Americans Guilty on Terror Charges



http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Pakistani-Court-Americans-Guilty-on-Terror-Charges-97053374.html



-- NYDN: Pakistan convicts five American
Muslim men on terror charges, each
receive 10-year prison sentences


http://bit.ly/bOXmS8

--
Dawn:
US suspects sentenced to 10 years in prison



http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/03-verdict-expected-in-us-terror-case-in-pakistan-ss-01



Escorted to Sargodha Jail - Photo: AFP



Guardian:
Pakistan jails five Americans for plotting terror acts


-- Guardian: "Prosecutors alleged they had found extremist groups from
the US using Facebook and YouTube with the intention of travelling to
Pakistan and crossing
into Afghanistan to fight western soldiers."

-- "Pakistani police alleged the men had contacted Taliban-linked
extremists
with the intention of attacking the Chashma barrage, a hydroelectric
power plant
near sensitive nuclear facilities. They also accused them of seeking to
travel
to Afghanistan. One allegedly left a farewell video in the US that
featured war
footage and said Muslims must be defended."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/24/pakistan-jails-americans-plotting-terrorism




-- Geo TV: ATC punishes 5 US
citizens on terror charges


http://geo.tv/6-24-2010/67272.htm






Geo TV Photo



--
TOI:
Pakistan court jails five Americans for terrorism



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pakistan-court-jails-five-Americans-for-terrorism-/articleshow/6086365.cms



-- NYT:
Pakistan Jails Five Americans in Terrorism Case



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/world/asia/25pstan.html?src=mv


--
NPR:
Five Americans Convicted Of Conspiracy In Pakistan, Sentenced To Prison


--- NPR: "The Americans said they were in Pakistan to do humanitarian
work. The
Pakistani court disagreed, saying the men used email and YouTube
accounts to
contact Pakistani militant groups."


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/06/24/128076916/5-americans-convicted-in-pakistan-sentenced-to-prison



--
AP:
Pakistan: Anti-terror court convicts 5 Americans



http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/24/pakistan-anti-terror-court-convicts-5-americans/





Washington
Post: "Pakistani court sentences 5 N.Va. men to at least 10 years in
prison"


--- Washington Post: "As news of the conviction filtered out Thursday
morning,
Nihad Awad, executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations,
spoke
by phone with the parents of the five men, most of whom live in a small
community near their mosque, the ICNA Center. 'They are in a state of
shock,'
Awad said."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/24/AR2010062400843.html



---
Timeline:
N.Va. men accused of terror plot



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/novamen/index.html












Umar Farooq, Ahmed Minni, Aman Hassan Yemer; Bottom left: Waqar Khan,
Ramy
Zamzam (Photo AP)


CBS/AP:
"The men have been identified as Ramy Zamzam of Egyptian
descent, Waqar Khan and Umar Farooq of Pakistani descent, and Aman
Hassan Yemer
and Ahmed Minni of Ethiopian descent. They were reported missing by
their
families in November after one left behind a farewell video showing
scenes of
war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended."

-- "Umar Farooq's father, Khalid Farooq, called the verdict "a great
disappointment" and insisted the men had not planned to fight in
Afghanistan,
but had wanted to do humanitarian work such as helping orphans. The men
also
wanted to see Umar get married in Sargodha, the father said."

-- "The men were arrested at Farooq's home in Sargodha after he said he
told
them to avoid Afghanistan. Khalid Farooq, an American of Pakistani
descent who
also has a home and business in Alexandria, Virginia, was held for 20
days."


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/24/world/main6613291.shtml


WTOP/AP:

-- "The president of a Washington, D.C.-area mosque where five young men

worshipped before going to Pakistan is disappointed the men have been
convicted
on terror charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison."

-- "Zahid Bukhari of the ICNA mosque in

Alexandria, Va
., says he was hoping the men would be released
instead."

-- "Prosecutors have said e-mail records and witness statements prove
the men
used the Internet to plot terror attacks in Pakistan and nations allied
with
it."


http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1987917





June 23, 2010 News:


--
Pakistan
predicts conviction in US terror trial -- "D.C. Five"




http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gKWi6HkcKYSqidIP8OadAAn1s9JAD9GGTB7G0



--
Pakistan
court concludes trial of 5 American Muslim youths




http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Pakistan-court-concludes-trial-of-5-American-Muslim-youths/articleshow/6081848.cms




May 16, 2010 News



'D.C.
Five': US terror suspects in Pakistan 'keen to return home'




http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iT6U4F15odZTmToJdSdgPJBViYVg





5
Virginia men facing terrorism charges in Pakistan write of 'noble'
motivation


--- Washington Post: "Police and court records charge that the five
made
contact with a known al-Qaeda operative through social-networking Web
sites
and that they communicated via a shared e-mail account:
ramadanhaji99@yahoo.com"

--- Ramy Zamzam now says he sought "work at an orphanage"



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/15/AR2010051503548.html




May 15, 2010 News:



'D.C.
Five' appear in court in Pakistan


-- CNN: "The group has been called the D.C. Five because they all lived

around the U.S. capital"

-- "The five Americans -- Ahmed Abdullah Minni, Umar Farooq, Aman
Hassan
Yemer, Waqar Hussain Khan and Ramy Zamzam -- used to worship together
at a
mosque in Alexandria, Virginia, until they went missing in November and

turned up in Pakistan"


http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/15/pakistan.terror.trial/



--
US
men on trial in Pakistan deny terrorism charges


--- "We just wanted to go to Afghanistan to help our Muslim brother on
humanitarian grounds"


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100515/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_us_arrests





http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/15/AR2010051501616.html







April 23, 2010 News:



IPT
News: "From Jihadi to Victim: Ramy Zamzam's Shifting Narrative"




http://www.investigativeproject.org/1915/from-jihadi-to-victim-ramy-zamzams-shifting







April 22, 2010 News:



PBS:
Americans' Arrests in Pakistan a 'Wake-Up Call' for Virginia Muslims -
by Judy Woodruff



http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/jan-june10/pakistan_04-22.html


--
MP3



http://newshour-tc.pbs.org/newshour/rss/media/2010/04/22/20100422_muslims.mp3



-- Video








ICNA: Mustafa Abu Maryam Ran ICNA Youth Group at Alexandria Mosque
- says
DC Five Never Discussed Politics, Extremism (Photo Clip - PBS Video)





April 18, 2010 News:



NY
Times report on Ramy Zamzam background: "A Thanksgiving Meal, Then
Charges of Jihad: A Mother's Tale"


-- Zamzam's mother Amal Khalifa is being supported by CAIR


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/world/asia/18mother.html?ref=asia







April 17, 2010 News:



Mom
of Virginia man charged with terrorism in Pakistan says son, others
were
beaten by authorities


-- DC suburb Alexandria, Virginia's Amal Khalifa - mother of Ramy
Zamzam



http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-pakistan-us-arrests-mother,0,6541530.story







March 31, 2010 News:



Trial
of 5 American Muslims begin in Pakistan


-- Ramy Zamzam, Waqar Hussain Khan, Ahmed Abdullah Minni, Iman Hasan
Yemer,
and Omar Farooq

-- Times of India: district police chief Usman Anwar "said they were
not
happy over the US government's policies in the Muslim world, especially
in
Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine"

-- "'They used to post their feelings in this regard on Youtube and
also
developed a contact with an Arab Muslim named Qari Saifullah, believed
to an
Al Qaeda operative in Pakistan,' Anwar said."

-- "Anwar said Saifullah had gone to the US and met the youths in
Virginia
and assured them that he would help them fulfil their desire to join
the
jehad against US forces."



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Trial-of-5-American-Muslims-begin-in-Pakistan/articleshow/5747454.cms







March 17, 2010 News:



Pakistan:
Court charges five US terror suspects: lawyer Shahid Kamal


-- terror charges have potential penalty of life imprisonment



http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/03-court-charges-five-us-terror-suspects-lawyer-ss-06



--
Pakistani
Court Charges Five Americans With Planning Terror Attacks,
Lawyers Says

-- AP:
" A defense lawyer says a Pakistani court has charged five
young
Americans with planning terrorist attacks in the South Asian country."

-- "Lawyer Hasan Dastagir says the men -- all Muslims from the
Washington,
D.C., area -- were also charged Wednesday with planning to wage war
against
countries that are in alliance with Pakistan"



http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/03/17/pakistani-court-charges-americans-planning-terror-attacks-lawyers-says/









January 4, 2010 News:




--

January 4, 2010: "D.C. Five" Ramy Zamzam (DC Howard University student)
:
"We are not terrorists. We are jihadists, and jihad is not
terrorism"



US
students accused of Pakistan terror attack plot 'on jihad mission'


-- "Ramy Zamzam, one of the accused who is being held along with four
other
students from Virginia, told the court in the eastern city of Sargodha:
'We
are not terrorists. We are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism' "



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6975973.ece



--
Va.
suspects in Pakistan plan to use jihad strategy in court




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/04/AR2010010400800.html



--
Five
men detained in Pakistan deny ties to Al Qaeda in court




http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-pakistan-trial5-2010jan05,0,4233564.story



--
Pakistan
Daily Times: "Americans deny plotting terror"




http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\01\05\story_5-1-2010_pg1_4



--
Pakistan
Dawn: " US militant suspects 'wanted to help' in Afghanistan"




http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/04-us-suspects-sargodha-afghanistan-qs-08







December 27, 2009 News



Pakistan's The
News:
Chashma Barrage map seized from held US terrorists


-- "Police have claimed to have recovered the map of Chashma Barrage
from the
possession of five under trial US terrorists held here in Pakistan, Geo
news
reported."

-- "Police said they are trying to determine whether five Americans
detained in
Pakistan had planned to attack a complex that houses nuclear power
facilities."

-- "The young Muslim men, who are from the Washington, D.C., area, were
picked
up in Pakistan earlier this month in a case that has spurred fears that
Westerners are traveling to the South Asian country to join militant
groups."


http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=94557





December 13 - 14, 2009 News:



Pakistan
probes U.S. men in terror case

-- AP
: "Pakistani police Monday seized luggage and a cell phone
from a hotel
where three of five Americans arrested on suspicion of militant links
stayed, while a court ruled the men cannot be deported until judges
review
the case."



http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/14/pakistan-police-probe-americans-terror-case/



-- Pakistan

seeks clues on jailed Americans

-- Reuters:
"Pakistani police raided on Monday a hotel where some
of the
Americans held on possible links to terrorism stayed, in a case that
has
highlighted how easily anyone can use the Internet to pursue dreams of
waging holy war"


http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BD17920091214


--
Five-combo photo released by Sargodha Police Department on Friday,
December 11, 2009
, of arrested American Muslims (left to right):
Waqar
Hussain, Ramy Zamzam, Umar Farooq, Ahmad Minni, Aman Yemer



http://www.realcourage.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/five-arrested-in-pakistan.jpg



http://bit.ly/8kkmwR

--
Items
seized from Americans with suspected militant links



http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.4107221777


--
Probe
of Americans focuses on recruiter
- "suspected Pakistani militant
they knew only as 'Saifullah.' Investigators believe that Saifullah
recruited the Americans, some of whom were students, through an
exchange of
e-mails in late summer and fall"



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-tc-nw-pak-virginia-1212-1213dec13,0,694428.story



--
Terror
probe leads FBI to India, Pakistan




http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-terror-threat13-2009dec13,0,6733096.story





Pakistan
Bars Deportation of Detained Americans



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/world/asia/15pstan.html?ref=asia




http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pakistani-court-halts-deportation-of-five-American-Muslims-on-jihad-quest/articleshow/5336310.cms






December 12, 2009 News



LA
Times: Virginia mosque grapples with young members' arrest in Pakistan


-- LA Times: "Reporting from Washington and Alexandria, Va. — The
bungalow-turned-mosque has no sign out front. It sits behind a Firestone
tire
store and across from a busy Dunkin' Donuts in a working-class
neighborhood in
suburban Virginia."

-- "Members of the mosque struggled Friday to understand how and why
five
well-liked members of its youth group went to Pakistan and were arrested
on
suspicion of seeking to join terrorist groups."

-- "'Those are our children,' Essam Tellawi, the imam, said in an
emotional
sermon to about 30 worshipers after noontime prayers at the
ICNA
Center

-- which is affiliated with the Islamic Circle of North America. "I
could never
describe the difficulties and hardships that our five families have been

afflicted with."

-- "The young men belonged to a group of 12 to 15 who often went
camping, played
basketball and performed community service projects."

-- "'Our group never talked about politics' or waging war, said Mustafa
Maryam,
the youth leader, who has known the five since 2006."




ICNA: Mustafa Abu Maryam Ran ICNA Youth Group at Alexandria Mosque
- says
DC Five Never Discussed Politics, Extremism (Photo Clip - PBS Video)

...

-- "The families of the men, who all lived near the mosque, pleaded for
privacy
Friday and did not talk to reporters."

-- "'They are extremely worried about the safety of their sons and do
not
believe that they could have been involved in the kind of activities
currently
being reported by Pakistani officials,' Nina Ginsberg, their lawyer,
said in an
e-mail."


http://articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/12/nation/la-na-pakistan-americans12-2009dec12







December 11, 2009 News:



CNN:
Americans arrested in Pakistan had bright futures


-- attended "I.C.N.A. Center, an affiliate of the the Islamic Circle of
North
America, in Alexandria, Virginia"


http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/11/pakistan.americans.profiles/index.html





Washington
Post: N.Va. men allegedly asked to join jihadists, Pakistan says



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/10/AR2009121000919.html





"ICNA
and the American jihadis"


-- "What is the Islamic Circle of North America? So glad you asked. It
is an
American Muslim organization with deep ties to Southeast Asian Islamic
radicals.
The Sayyid Qutb reading at the Dallas Central Mosque five years ago was
co-sponsored by ICNA."


http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2009/12/icna-and-the-american-jihadis.html







December 10, 2009 News:



Detained
Americans in Pakistan for "Jihad"


Officials Tell CBS that FBI has Met 5 Men from D.C. Area with Possible
Links
to Pakistani Militants

CBS reported: "Three of the arrested Americans are of Pakistani
descent, one
is of Egyptian descent and the other has Yemeni origins, police officer

Tahir Gujjar said."


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/10/world/main5959772.shtml


--
Related
Video




http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5955714n&tag=related;photovideo




Watch CBS News Videos
Online







"


Pakistani children play in front of a house where police
reportedly
arrested five American Muslims in Sargodha, Pakistan, Thursday, Dec.
10,
2009." (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)






December 9, 2009 News:



Pakistan
arrests 5 men reported missing in United States


-- "five were from Virginia... preliminary investigations suggest they
had
sought to link up with the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Jamaat ud Dawa militant

organizations"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/09/pakistan.arrests/index.html


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/6775138/Five-Americans-arrested-in-Pakistan-over-suspected-links-to-terrorist-groups.html


--
Five
men from N.Va. arrested in Pakistan in terrorism probe


--- "Two U.S. officials said one of the men left a "farewell" video
behind
saying Muslims must be defended, and showing images of U.S. casualties"

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/12/five-men-nva-arrested-pakistan-terrorism-probe




Pakistan
Reportedly Detains Five D.C.-Area Muslims on Suspicion of Terror


-- DPO "names the five as Ahmed Abdullah, Waqar Hassan Khan, Eman
Hassan,
Yasir and Rami Zamzam and describes them as two Yemenis, an Egyptian, a

Swede and a U.S.-born Pakistani"

http://www.investigativeproject.org/1557/authorities-search-for-five-missing-dc-area




==================





Steven Emerson comments on ICNA (Book "American Jihad," published in
2002,
excerpts from pages 207-210)


-- "Formally established in 1971 the Islamic Circle of North America
(ICNA) is
composed primarily of Muslim supporters of South Asian descent. It is
allied
with the militant fundamentalist movement of Jamaat-e-Islamiya in
Pakistan and
Bangladesh."

-- "ICNA openly supports militant Islamic fundamentalist organizations,
praises
terrorist attacks, issues incendiary attacks on Western values and
policies, and
supports the imposition of shari'a (Islamic code of law). It has created
several
nonprofit charitable organizations that collect tax-deductible
contributions for
militant Islamic causes. ICNA's views are disseminated through regular
conferences and a monthly publication called The Message."

-- "In March of 1996, Senator Mitch Connell (R-KY), chairman of the
Foreign
Operations subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations,
stated that
'One of the groups with Hamas ties is the Dallas-based Islamic
Association for
Palestine in North America, which, in turn, apparently is allied with
the
Islamic Circle of North America in New York.' ..."

-- "From June 30 to July 2, 2000, in Baltimore, [an ICNA convention]
featured
the leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islamiya, Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmad.
The
Jamaat-e-Islamiya is the most prominent radical Islamic movement in
Pakistan and
its members openly supported the Taliban government and learn the ways
of jihad.
At the conference, Ameer Ahmad alleged that the principal duty of
American
Muslims is to unite in a single government with Muslims all over the
world:
"Now, this is the duty of the American Muslims, the Muslims living here,
they
have got a message ... We have got a universal message and we are a
universal
government.'"






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