Ali al-Tamimi
Encyclopedia
Ali Al-Tamimi is a former Fairfax County resident, biologist
, and Islam
ic teacher. Once regarded as a "person of interest" in the 2001 Anthrax scare, he was subsequently convicted of inciting terrorism
in connection with the Virginia Jihad Network
and sentenced to life imprisonment.
neighborhood. His father, a lawyer, worked at the Iraq
i embassy, and his mother was a scholar of psychology. When he was 15 his family moved to Saudi Arabia
, where he became interested in Islam. On returning to the U.S. two years later, he attended The George Washington University and the University of Maryland, College Park
. In 2004 he received a doctorate in computational biology
from George Mason University
on the topic of "Chaos
and Complexity
in Cancer
".
in the United Nations
4th World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China. Al-Tamimi contacted Shaikh Abdel Rahaman Abdel Khaliq, who wrote a book about women in Islam, which Al-Tamimi translated into English.
He was the primary lecturer at the Center for Islamic Information and Education
in Falls Church, Virginia
. He was a founding member of the Center, which is also known as Dar al-Arqam.
According to a court filing by Timimi's attorney, Edward MacMahon, in late 2002, former imam and suspected al-Qaeda member Anwar al-Awlaki
has visited al-Tamimi in Northern Virginia, and asked him about recruiting young Muslims to fight terrorism."
, former Chief of Staff (2000–2006) of the George W. Bush
Whitehouse, while Card was Secretary of Transportation under George H. Bush (1992–93).
s, rocket propelled grenade
s and explosives. Tamimi was named as an unindicted co-conspirator
in that case.
After the conclusion of the Virginia Jihad Network trials, prosecutors tried al-Tamimi for encouraging the Virginia Jihad Network wage jihad
in India and the U.S. The case before U.S. District (Eastern District of Virginia) Judge Leonie M. Brinkema was on 10 counts, including soliciting others to levy war against the United States, and contributing services to the Taliban.
After considering the case for seven days, a federal jury convicted him on all 10 counts in April 2005. He was sentenced on July 14, 2005, to life imprisonment. In sentencing him, Judge Brinkema said "I don't think any well-read person can doubt the truth that terrorist camps are an essential part of the new terrorism that is perpetrated in the world today. People of good will need to do whatever they can to stop that."
While many Muslim leaders criticized the verdict, Free Muslims Against Terrorism, a new American organization, issued a press release applauding his conviction, and Kamal Nawash
, its president said "By categorizing every conviction against every Muslim as a witch hunt, American Muslim leaders are closing their eyes to the sad fact that we have a problem with extremism, and that Muslims are the only ones that can defeat extremist ideologies from the Muslim community."
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
, and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic teacher. Once regarded as a "person of interest" in the 2001 Anthrax scare, he was subsequently convicted of inciting terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
in connection with the Virginia Jihad Network
Virginia Jihad Network
The Virginia jihad network was a network of jihadists centered in Northern Virginia.Ali al-Timimi was convicted in 2005 of exhorting his followers to join the Taliban and fight US troops. The young men played paintball in 2000 and 2001 as a means of training for holy war around the globe...
and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Early life
Al-Tamimi was born and raised in the Washington area, and was raised in a predominantly CatholicCatholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
neighborhood. His father, a lawyer, worked at the Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i embassy, and his mother was a scholar of psychology. When he was 15 his family moved to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, where he became interested in Islam. On returning to the U.S. two years later, he attended The George Washington University and the University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
. In 2004 he received a doctorate in computational biology
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...
from George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
on the topic of "Chaos
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
and Complexity
Complexity
In general usage, complexity tends to be used to characterize something with many parts in intricate arrangement. The study of these complex linkages is the main goal of complex systems theory. In science there are at this time a number of approaches to characterizing complexity, many of which are...
in Cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
".
Islamic activities
In the early 1990s, Al-Tamimi led a five-person delegation from the Islamic Assembly of North AmericaIslamic Assembly of North America
The Islamic Assembly of North America is a Muslim organization headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.-Activities:According to its website, IANA's goals include to "unify and coordinate the efforts of the different dawah oriented organizations in North America and guide or direct the Muslims of this...
in the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
4th World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China. Al-Tamimi contacted Shaikh Abdel Rahaman Abdel Khaliq, who wrote a book about women in Islam, which Al-Tamimi translated into English.
He was the primary lecturer at the Center for Islamic Information and Education
Center for Islamic Information and Education
-Center for Islamic Information and Education:The Center for Islamic Information and Education is an American independent non-profit organization established in 2000 to inform and educate Muslims and non-Muslims regarding Islam and the Islamic civilization....
in Falls Church, Virginia
Falls Church, Virginia
The City of Falls Church is an independent city in Virginia, United States, in the Washington Metropolitan Area. The city population was 12,332 in 2010, up from 10,377 in 2000. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Anglican parish, Falls Church gained township status within...
. He was a founding member of the Center, which is also known as Dar al-Arqam.
According to a court filing by Timimi's attorney, Edward MacMahon, in late 2002, former imam and suspected al-Qaeda member Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
has visited al-Tamimi in Northern Virginia, and asked him about recruiting young Muslims to fight terrorism."
Work history
Ali Al-Tamimi worked at a IT company named Xpedior, Inc. Clients he provided service to included America Online (AOL). He reportedly worked for two months for Andrew CardAndrew Card
Andrew Hill Card, Jr. is a Republican American politician, former United States Cabinet member, and head of President George W. Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush and the White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush...
, former Chief of Staff (2000–2006) of the George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
Whitehouse, while Card was Secretary of Transportation under George H. Bush (1992–93).
The Virginia Jihad Network
Prior to al-Tamimi's prosecution, 11 male Muslim members of the so-called Virginia Jihad Network, all but one from the Washington area, were indicted on a number of charges related to their participation in a terrorist enterprise. Nine members of the group were convicted of participating in paramilitary training to prepare for "holy war" abroad that included paint guns as well as using and possessing various firearmFirearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s, rocket propelled grenade
Rocket propelled grenade
A rocket-propelled grenade is a shoulder-fired, anti-tank weapon system which fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. These warheads are affixed to a rocket motor and stabilized in flight with fins. Some types of RPG are reloadable while others are single-use. RPGs, with the exception of...
s and explosives. Tamimi was named as an unindicted co-conspirator
Unindicted co-conspirator
An unindicted co-conspirator, or unindicted conspirator, is a person or entity that is alleged in an indictment to have engaged in conspiracy, but who is not charged in the same indictment...
in that case.
Trial and sentencing
According to prosecution, in a meeting al-Tamimi attended in Fairfax five days after the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, he had told his followers that "the time had come for them to go abroad and join the mujaheddin engaged in violent jihad in Afghanistan." Many who attended that meeting formed the Virginia Jihad Network, trained for jihad, and some left the U.S. for terrorist training camps.After the conclusion of the Virginia Jihad Network trials, prosecutors tried al-Tamimi for encouraging the Virginia Jihad Network wage jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
in India and the U.S. The case before U.S. District (Eastern District of Virginia) Judge Leonie M. Brinkema was on 10 counts, including soliciting others to levy war against the United States, and contributing services to the Taliban.
After considering the case for seven days, a federal jury convicted him on all 10 counts in April 2005. He was sentenced on July 14, 2005, to life imprisonment. In sentencing him, Judge Brinkema said "I don't think any well-read person can doubt the truth that terrorist camps are an essential part of the new terrorism that is perpetrated in the world today. People of good will need to do whatever they can to stop that."
While many Muslim leaders criticized the verdict, Free Muslims Against Terrorism, a new American organization, issued a press release applauding his conviction, and Kamal Nawash
Kamal Nawash
Kamal Nawash is a Muslim Palestinian-born American lawyer, working for the Nawash Law Office in Washington, D.C.Nawash was the first Arab American and Muslim to be nominated to run for the Virginia State Senate , which he did as a Republican...
, its president said "By categorizing every conviction against every Muslim as a witch hunt, American Muslim leaders are closing their eyes to the sad fact that we have a problem with extremism, and that Muslims are the only ones that can defeat extremist ideologies from the Muslim community."