Just in from CNN, :
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Muslim lecturer, Ali al-Timimi, was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday, on charges including counseling people to engage in a conspiracy to levy war against the United States, to aid the Taliban and to use firearms in violent crimes.
The United States alleges al-Timimi, who lectured at a prominent Northern Virginia mosque until the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, told followers attending a meeting that Islamic history justifies attacks on civilians, that those fighting Americans in Afghanistan would die as martyrs and how to reach a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.
“We are going to deny all the charges,” al-Timimi’s attorney, James Vann, told CNN.
“He has a record of lectures going back years and years, 15 to 20 years preaching non-violence and cooperation between the Muslim world and America.”
The indictment is part of a government case in which 11 men were charged last year as part of a “Virginia jihad network.” The 11 faced accusations of helping the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and using paintball games as a way to train for possible terrorist activity. Nine of the men either pleaded guilty or were convicted. Al-Timimi was not charged in the indictment.