ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal judge said Friday that attorneys for a College Park man charged with assisting a foreign terrorist organization may be able to challenge whether those he is accused of aiding are, in fact, terrorists.
Ali Asad Chandia was arrested at his College Park home on Sept. 15 and charged with two counts of providing material support to terrorists and two counts of providing material support to a designated terrorist organization.
The short-haired, long-bearded Chandia, 29, who was released on bail in September, appeared in court wearing a gray dress shirt and dark greenish brown Dockers. He sat silently while attorneys traded arguments with Judge Claude Hilton over pretrial evidence that could affect his case.
Although the two types of charges are similar, Hilton, of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia, said that Chandia’s lawyers could take different approaches in defending their client against each.
Chandia is charged with aiding Lashkar-e-Taiba, also known as the Army of the Righteous, which in December 2001 was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
According to the State Department, Lashkar-e-Taiba has several thousand members and is one of the “three largest and best-trained groups” fighting against India in the disputed Kashmir region.
With regard to the second set of charges, Hilton said, “we’re not going to try whether the State Department made a correct designation or not.” But, at the objection of the federal prosecutor, he said that lawyers could present evidence to challenge whether the people Chandia is accused of assisting in the first set of charges are terrorists, or not.
One of Chandia’s attorneys, Marvin Miller, told Hilton the government is withholding information that he needs and has the right to see before trial.
“No, no, no, you guys are not playing fair,” Miller said to Assistant U.S. Attorney David Laufman, the government prosecutor, after Hilton left the court.
Miller then had the court reporter take down his arguments about the evidence for the record, and as he did Laufman turned around and exchanged looks with his colleagues seated in the court.
“Mr. Miller has both misrepresented what he is entitled to receive and what he has received,” Laufman said after Miller concluded.
The Chandia case is the latest in the ongoing investigation of the “Virginia Jihad” network. So far, 10 members of the group have been convicted of purchasing paintball guns and paintballs for use as armed combat training gear.
In its indictment against Chandia, the government alleged that he aided in the March 2003 shipment of 21 boxes to Lahore, Pakistan, and several of those boxes were full of paintballs.
It also claimed that Chandia attended lectures given by the group’s leader, Ali al-Timimi, and that sometime between 2000 and 2001 he served as Timimi’s personal assistant, helping with scheduling, typing and other administrative duties.
Chandia is a citizen of Pakistan, and his father still lives in Lahore. In 2001, Chandia said in an Oct. 26 interview, he returned to his homeland for the first time since 1994 to attend his brother’s wedding and see his extended family.
The government claims that the true purpose of Chandia’s visit was to attend a Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp.
In a phone interview later Friday, Kate Goss, another attorney for Chandia, said she and Miller have been given access to some of the evidence the government has against Chandia, including an FBI report of an interview with Chandia, two CD-ROMs containing e-mails from his account, and a transcript of the grand jury testimony of his brother.
“We have gone on one occasion to look at everything that was seized from his house, his mother’s house, his car and storage unit,” she said.
Still, she and Miller are concerned because they aren’t sure how many of the issues from the other Virginia Jihad network cases will be brought up in Chandia’s trial.
There will be another hearing Dec. 16, and Chandia’s trial is set for Jan. 23. If convicted on all charges he could face as many as 60 years in prison.
“We’re just looking for a fair trial,” Goss said. “We want to have enough time to prepare and give a good defense for our client as we’re required by law.”