Federal Criminal Defense Blog : Georgia Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Gillen Withers & Lake Law Firm : White Collar Crime, RICO, Trial : Atlanta, Savannah, GA

As reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the jury in the trial of Ehsanul Islam Sadequee found Sadequee guilty of conspiracy to provide support to terrorists and attempting to aid terrorists, in particular Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based terrorist organization, after deliberating for five hours. Sadequee had represented himself throughout the trial.

Sadequee told the jurors during his closing arguments that he and friend and fellow defendant, Syed Haris Ahmed, were young and immature with imaginations that "ran wild," but that he was not a terrorist.

Defense attorney Don Samuel told reporters that the government's showing of a terrorist video on how to make a bomb detonator changed the whole atmosphere of the trial.

Sadequee and Ahmed will be sentenced on September 15. Sadequee, who is 23, faces a maximum sentence of 60 years.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

As reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Associated Press, closing arguments have started in the terrorism trial of Atlanta area native and former Georgia Tech student Ehsanul Islam Sadequee. Sadequee is representing himself and will present his own closing argument.

Sadequee called only two witnesses in his defense before resting his case, including his older sister, Sharanika Sonali Sadequee. Sadequee told the Court that he did not want to testify in his defense. His sister testified that he was quiet, inquisitive and nonviolent and had traveled to Bangladesh to marry his long-time love. The government contends that the trip was actually a cover for Sadequee's alleged plan to attend a terrorist training camp. Sharanika Sadequee testified that her brother has been prohibited from discussing certain subjects in the trial, including his arrest in Bangladesh, which she called a kidnapping, and an attack on Sadequee by another inmate while he has been in custody. Sadequee's mother prayed in the courtroom throughout the proceedings.

U.S. District Court Judge William S. Duffey, Jr., scolded Sadequee for attempting to introduce his wedding photographs into evidence at the last minute. The Judge denied Sadequee's motion for acquittal and ruled that there was sufficient evidence to take the case to the jury on all four counts. The jury will begin deliberations later today.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Checking in on the Atlanta trial of 23 year-old Ehsanul Islam Sadequee for allegedly supporting terrorism, last Wednesday Sadequee's alleged co-conspirator and friend, Syed Haris Ahmed, who was convicted on similar charges in June, took the stand to testify against Sadequee on behalf of the government. As reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Fulton County Daily Report, Sadequee is representing himself in the trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Ahmed told the jury that he and Sadequee had discussed attacking oil refineries on American soil and traveling to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and joining Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based terrorist organization committed to wresting control of Kashmir from India. Ahmed testified that he and Sadequee talked about attacking oil storage facilities in order to disrupt the U.S. economy. Ahmed told the jury about his and Sadequee's trip to Washington, D.C., in 2005 in order to videotape alleged targets for terrorist strikes.

Prior to last week, Ahmed had refused to testify against his friend, however, prosecutors managed to persuade him to take the stand by promsing him immunity for his testimony. He prayed before his testimony, and waved to Sadequee's family as he left the courtroom. Ahmed and Sadequee met at a mosque in midtown Atlanta in 2004. They allegedly spent many hours in online chat rooms dedicated to militant Islam and watching jihad recruitment videos. Ahmed attempted to warn Sadequee after Ahmed was interviewed by the FBI, using a pay phone and a computer at a public library because he was worried that his house was bugged. Ahmed was arrested several days later, and Sadequee was arrested in Bangladesh, where he had traveled to get married and to allegedly contact terrorist groups.

Prosecutors played for the jury the videotapes which Ahmed and Sadequee made in Washington which were sent to a terrorist suspect in London, which included a statement by Sadequee stating "This is where our brothers attacked the Pentagon." Also on Wednesday, FBI agents testified regarding e-mails and online chat conversations by Sadequee about potential ways to fund his trip to Pakistan, including by robbing people at ATMs and selling marijuana in Canada. Sadequee cross examined FBI Agent James Allen regarding the conversations, pointing out that the term "LOL" (laugh out loud) and other online slang indicated that the conversations were not serious.

On Thursday, Sadequee spent hours cross-examining his friend and co-defendant Ahmed. However, Sadequee, who had elected not to use attorney Don Samuel of Garland, Samuel & Loeb and attorney Khurrum B. Wahid of Miami, may have helped the prosecution's case more than his own, since Ahmed's replies appeared to confirm Sadequee's alleged intent to join with Muslim extremists in Canada and his alleged belief that the U.S. government. economic system and media were instruments of the antichrist. Sadequee further introduced as evidence the preface from a book on jihadist theology which referred to hostilities towards Chritinas and Jews. he strengthened his connection with a group of alleged terrorists in Canada who had plotted to blow up the Canadian parliament in 2006 and were arrested.

Sadequee did not inform his lawyers that he wished to represent himself until the day his trial began. Mr. Samuel told reporters that Sadequee made his decision because there were certain things he wanted to raise, including moral issues, and questions he wanted to raise with witnesses.

Prosecutors questioned several witnesses on Friday.

Sadequee is an American citizen whose family came from Bangladesh and who grew up in Roswell, Georgia. He has been in custody for the past three years and faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 23, nicknamed "Shifa," which means "Cure," is representing himself in his trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on four counts of allegedly conspiring to provide material support to terrorism. As reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Associated Press, Sadequee began his 14 minute opening statement with a prayer. He told the jury that he had talked about jihadist "fantasies" but that it was empty talk and that there was no plan to carry out acts of terrorism. Sadequee denied conspiring with known terrorists. He told the jurors that he only discussed jihad in online chat rooms."If everything is a question mark, can there be a plan?" he asked the jurors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney argued to the jury that Sadequee only needed to orchestrate the crime, not carry out any terrorism. The government claimed that Sadequee began visiting online sites frequented by Islamic militants and leaving messages regarding his intent to join the Taliban shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when he was only 15.

The government presented testimony by Omer Kamal, an Atlanta accountant, former Georgia tech student and friend of Sadequee's. Kamal testified that he, Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed, who was convicted in June, watched training videos by Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, and practiced jihad attack techniques with paintball guns in North Georgia. He stated that he backed out of the group when they started planning to visit the Middle East to link up with terrorist groups. Kamal cooperated with the FBI and agreed to testify against Sadequee after becoming concerned that he was under surveillance. He said that the group discussed attacking targets including the White House, the U.S. Capitol, Guantanamo Bay Prison and Abu Ghraib. Kamal said he had slipped a note under his friends' doors when he decided to leave the group. Sadequee then went with Ahmed to Toronto, Canada, to meet with terrorists there. Sadequee spent over an hour cross-examining Kamal yesterday.

Mr. McBurney argued that Sadequee sent videos of the alleged targets to a terrorist suspect in Britain disguising the videos with titles such as "jimmy's 13th birthday party" and "volleyball contest." He claimed that Sadequee subsequently traveled to Bangladesh in order to get married, but also to link up with terrorist groups. Sadequee was arrested in Bangladesh in 2006. Mr. McBurney said that Sadequee communicated with other terror suspects including Ahmed and Mirsad Bektasevic, a Balkan-born Swede who was convicted in 2007 of planning to blow up a target in Europe to force the pullout of foreign troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ahmed, who is awaiting sentencing, has agreed to testify against Sadequee, and will take the stand today.

Sadequee has worn a gray tunic with a beard and long hair during the proceedings. Sadequee's mother, Shirin, sat in the audience during the proceedings and wept and prayed for her son. If convicted Sadequee faces up to 60 years in prison.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

We closely followed the trial of Syed Haris Ahmed, who was convicted for providing material support to terrorism in early June--all of our posts may be found here. The trial of Ahmed's alleged co-conspirator, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee on terrorism charges began yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Sadequee has apparently taken a page from Ahmed, who delivered a highly unusual closing argument in his own case, and has opted to represent himself and will present his own opening statements, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Sadequee has opted for a jury trial unlike his alleged co-conspirator, who was tried by the same judge, the Honorable William S. Duffey. The parties completed jury selection yesterday.

Attorney Don Samuel is serving as stand-by counsel for Sadequee. Mr. Samuel told the Court that Sadequee did not understand what it meant to represent himself. Judge Duffey replied that he had informed Sadequee regarding what it meant to represent himself numerous times.

Sadequee, who is nicknamed “Shifa,” was born in Virginia in 1986, and is of Bangladeshi descent. He and Ahmed are most infamously accused of videotaping landmarks in Washington, D.C., in April of 2005, for purposes of terrorism, including the United States Capitol and the headquarters building of the World Bank. It is also alleged that Sadequee and Ahmed engaged in paramilitary training in North Georgia; met with a circle of terrorists in Toronto, Canada, in February of 2005; and sent the video of the alleged targets to Younis Tsouli, a terrorist in the United Kingdom.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks