Extremist convicted in Virginia - FMCAT statement April 27, 2005

FREE MUSLIMS APPLAUD CONVICTION OF EXTREMIST MUSLIM LEADER

An extremist Muslim leader from Northern Virginia was convicted of inciting his followers to train overseas to commit violence against the United States.

Timimi, 41, was convicted of inspiring a group of his Northern Virginia followers toattend terrorist training camps in Pakistan and prepare to battle American troops among other charges. The government's case against Timimi was based on a meeting he attendedon Sept. 16, 2001.

According to court papers, Timimi allegedly told his followers that"the time had come for them to go abroad and join the mujahideen (evil doers) in violent jihad in Afghanistan,".

Nor surprisingly, many of the Muslim "leaders" in Washington DC have come to the defense of Tamimi by arguing that his conviction was nothing more than a witch hunt and that hewas merely a "Muslim scholar" exercising his rights to free speech.

The Free Muslims Against Terrorism do not share these beliefs. Ali Al-Tamimi is a well known extremist and he represents everything that has gone wrong with the Muslim world.

His evil words have cast a dark cloud over the rest of the Muslim community and we areglad that justice was served. The Free Muslims Against Terrorism have argued time and time again that the Muslim community must not tolerate people like Ali Al-Tamimi. We strongly urge American Muslim organizations to read the poison that Al-Tamimi has spread in the Muslim community and not assume that he was unjustly accused. He is an evil man and Muslims must not wait onfederal authorities to remove evil doers like Tamimi from our community. Moderate Moslems must take the initiative and discredit people like Tamimi.

The Free Muslims Against Terrorism are pleased with the verdict against Ali Al-Tamimi. We are however, disappointed in the responses of some American Muslim organizations to his verdict. 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 who can defeat extremist ideologies from the Muslim community.

For more information, visit or website at www.freemuslims.org