Prosecutors say gun charges related to terror plot
Associated Press http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4823748.html A Pakistani student sought out firearms training in order to one day be able to fight U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, federal prosecutors told jurors today. Syed Maaz Shah is on trial for federal firearms violations connected to camping trips he took in 2006. Authorities say the trips were organized by a group of Muslim men who wanted to receive paramilitary training in order to engage in a jihad or holy war against U.S. troops overseas. But Shah's attorney, Frank Jackson, told jurors during opening statements in the trial that his client is an honor student who comes from a good Muslim family and was "ensnared by the FBI" in a scheme to falsely accuse young Muslim men of terrorism related charges. Shah was indicted on two counts of possession of a firearm by an alien and two counts of alien in possession of a firearm affecting interstate commerce. Prosecutors said he fired an Armalite assault rifle. Shah, a 20-year-old engineering student at the University of Texas at Dallas, faces up to 10 years in prison for each count, if convicted. Under federal law, a non-immigrant with a student visa such as Shah can't have firearms or ammunition. "These incidents are about possession of a firearm on two different occasions. We're not talking about a jihad or armed insurrection," Jackson said. "If the government had any evidence on those things, we'd be on trial for that." But prosecutor Shelley Hicks told jurors Shah was part of group of Muslim men who had become so dissatisfied with U.S. policies related to Iraq and other Muslim countries they began training in order to fight U.S. troops overseas. Hicks said an undercover officer named Malik Mohamed infiltrated the group of men and recorded their conversations. Shah "talks about being ready to go to jihad. He talks about needing a wife to support that because he might go at anytime," Hicks said. Officials said the FBI found extremist literature on Shah's computer. Mohamed testified Monday the men took part in five camping trips in 2005 and 2006. Mohamed, whose role was to train the men, said the group was always looking for individuals who also wanted to take part in a jihad and that Shah was such a person. But Jackson said Shah went on two camping trips in 2006 only to fish and didn't know they would be firing weapons until he got to the site, located in a rural area near Willis, north of Houston. "You'll find Mr. Shah was entrapped," Jackson said. Last week, Shiraz Syed Qazi, 26, one of three other men arrested in connection with this case, was sentenced to 10 months in prison for firing weapons during these camping trips. Two other men, Adnan Babar Mirza and Kobie Diallo Williams, were charged with conspiracy to join the Taliban and fight U.S. forces. Mirza, a 29-year-old Pakistani who overstayed a student visa, also is charged with three counts of violating federal firearms laws. Mirza, who is Qazi's cousin, is set for trial in October. Williams, 33, a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and is set to be sentenced in October. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. (F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
