www.DemocraticFundamentalism.org - 8/2/2002 - Webmaster Arrested by FBI, Held as Terror Suspect

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Webmaster Arrested by FBI, Held as Terror Suspect

James Ujaama operate(d/s) the website www.stopamerica.org

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Seattle Man Charged in Terror Probe

August 28, 2002 Posted: 5:21 PM EDT (2121 GMT)

SEATTLE (AP) - Federal authorities on Wednesday charged a former Seattle man with conspiring to help al-Qaida and set up a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon.

Earnest James Ujaama was named in a two-count indictment that accused him of conspiracy to provide material support and resources for al-Qaida and with using, carrying, possessing and discharging firearms during a crime.

The indictment contends Ujaama, a Muslim who was born James Ernest Thompson, led a conspiracy to set up a training camp in Bly, Ore.

In October and November 1999, at meetings with co-conspirators there and in Seattle, the indictment says, Ujaama led discussions about the need "for further training, in order to be able to attend violent jihad-training camps in Afghanistan, the commission of armed robbery, the building of underground bunkers to hide ammunition and weapons, the creation of poisonous materials for public consumption, and the firebombing of vehicles."

"In or about October 1999, after visiting the property in Bly, Ore., Ujaama proposed ... the establishment of a jihad training camp on the Bly property," it says.

Ujaama has repeatedly maintained his innocence. In a written statement Tuesday, he accused the government of conducting a witch hunt.

"Should it be the policy of this government to convict innocent people before any hearing or before any trial?" Ujaama asked. "My constitutional rights, my civil liberties and my future have been grossly violated in a bid to seek political gain, not justice or truth."

Ujaama was arrested July 22 at a relative's home in Denver as a material witness to terrorist activity. He was flown to Virginia, where he remains in the Alexandria Adult Detention Center.

Ujaama's attorney in Denver, Daniel Sears, said he suspected the government was using the material-witness statute to hold Ujaama until it could develop charges.

He said Ujaama has not testified before a grand jury.

"I became concerned the material witness warrant was being used as a pretext to keep him in custody without any charges being filed against him and without any real intention to seek his testimony," Sears said Wednesday.

James Ujaama's brother, Mustafa - born Jon Thompson and also a Muslim convert - said Wednesday that his brother remains in good spirits, despite five weeks behind bars.

"He knows he didn't do anything," he said.

The brothers grew up in Seattle. James Ujaama is married, with two children.

Many community leaders in Seattle have praised the brothers' work to eradicate drugs and prostitution from their neighborhood. They also worked to recruit former gang members and others into the now-defunct Dar-us-Salaam mosque. Other members of the mosque have also been under scrutiny for possible ties to Osama bin Laden.

Authorities also have looked at James Ujaama's ties to Abu Hamza al-Masri, the leader of a London mosque known for extreme anti-American views. U.S. officials believe al-Masri heads the Islamic Army of Aden, a Yemeni group linked to al-Qaida that claimed responsibility for bombing the USS Cole. Al-Masri is wanted in Yemen on terror charges, and the United States has frozen his assets. He has denied supporting terrorism.

For his community leadership work in Las Vegas, James Ujaama was given a key to the city.

In Washington state, lawmakers declared June 10, 1994, James Ujaama Day. That same day, he received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition.

Ujaama also has published several entrepreneur books, including "Coming Up" and "Young People's Guide to Starting a Business."

Ujaama's lawyer fears feds seek indictment

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
August 28, 2002

A lawyer for imprisoned Denver Muslim James Ujaama worries that his client is being held not for his potential testimony to a grand jury, but to buy time while the government prepares to indict him.

Daniel Sears, a court-appointed attorney who represented Ujaama after his July 22 arrest in Denver, filed a motion Tuesday in Denver's U.S. District Court, seeking documents detailing the government's search of his grandmother's North Park Hill property July 25.

In discussing his motion, Sears expressed worry about what the government's true interest is in Ujaama, who was born in Denver 36 years ago as James Earnest Thompson.

To date, all that has been revealed is that Ujaama was arrested on a material witness warrant issued in the Eastern District of Virginia, giving the government the right to hold him without bond until it has secured his testimony before a grand jury probing Islamic terrorism.

That was more than five weeks ago, and Ujaama remains in custody at the Alexandria (Va.) Detention Facility, the same place authorities are holding American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh and Zacarias Moussaoui.

Ujaama, in a July 23 interview, denied being a terrorist or having any terrorist connections. He has not been charged with a crime.

"I have a very grave concern," Sears said. "I question whether they really want his testimony and whether this is just a vehicle to detain him, pending a determination whether they're going to return criminal charges against him."

Ujaama is due in a federal courtroom in Alexandria today, where a federal magistrate judge is scheduled to review his detention status. Ujaama appeared before a U.S. magistrate in Denver three times before he was moved in the first week of August to Virginia. Sears regrets that he let authorities relocate his client.

"We had assurances that the return on the material witness warrant would have been accomplished over two weeks ago," said Sears, referring to Ujaama's anticipated testimony.

"I can tell you that if I knew then what I know now, with respect to what has happened to James, we would not have been so ready to accede to the Eastern District of Virginia. The environment for his release was much better, here."

The motion filed by Sears on Tuesday seeks disclosure of the search warrant affidavit and an inventory of what was siezed, and asks for the return of the property, taken July 25 from Ujaama's grandmother's home at 2832 Dexter St.

Ujaama's family members said, the day of the Dexter Street search, that federal agents left with several floppy discs, plus computers belonging to James Ujaama and his his younger brother Mustafa Ujaama, 34. Also seized, they said, was a laptop computer belonging to James Ujaama's 17-year-old son.

Friday, August 2, 2002 - Ujaama now held in Va., lawyer says - Denver Post

James Ujaama, the Seattle activist detained last week in Park Hill as a material witness to a federal terrorism investigation, is now in Virginia, his lawyer said.

Ujaama, 36, has appeared before a federal magistrate there and is expected to receive a new court-appointed lawyer, said Dan Sears, who was appointed to represent him in Denver. Then, Ujaama will testify before a federal grand jury that is investigating terrorism, Sears said.

Authorities are investigating Ujaama's ties to radical London cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, whose mosque allegedly served as an al-Qaeda training ground. Ujaama is also suspected of delivering laptop computers to the Taliban.

Judge refuses to free Ujaama By Bill McAllister Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief
Saturday, August 24, 2002

Saturday, August 24, 2002 - ALEXANDRIA, Va. - James Ujaama, a 36-year-old Colorado native who is being held as a material witness in an ongoing Justice Department investigation into Sept. 11 terrorism, remained in detention after a federal judge refused to release him Friday.

But Ujaama's lawyer, Gregory E. Stambaugh, said after the closed hearing that U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee promised to rule within 60 days on whether prosecutors have constitutional grounds to continue to hold Ujaama as a material witness for a federal grand jury.

"He wants to be home with his family," Stambaugh said after the hour-long hearing. "He goes between being upbeat and upset. It's difficult to be upbeat under these circumstances."

Ujaama, who has lived for the past several years in Seattle and London, has not been charged with any crime. He was taken into custody July 22 at a relative's house in Denver. Federal authorities reportedly are investigating his ties to radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, whose London mosque allegedly served as an al-Qaeda recruiting ground. They are probing whether Ujaama helped mosque members scout an Oregon ranch as the possible site of a terrorist training camp. And Ujaama's relatives say FBI agents are also investigating whether he delivered laptop computers to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Before Lee cleared his courtroom for the closed hearing, lawyers for The Denver Post and other newspapers argued that the government should make public portions of transcripts of previous and future hearings dealing with the constitutionality of Ujaama's detention. Lee refused, saying some Colorado officials may have been willing to acknowledge the detention, but his court would take a stronger stand. "You're not in Colorado any more," he cautioned the lawyers.

Lee said he would be bound by the rules of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is known for guarding the secrecy of its grand jury proceedings and its stern rulings in national security cases.

Post lawyer Seth Berlin told the judge the newspapers may appeal.

Ujaama's name was never mentioned during the public session and the judge apologized that his name had been accidentally listed on a courtroom calendar posted in the courthouse. Justice Department lawyers have refused to concede that Ujaama is a witness before their grand jury or if there is, in fact, a grand jury investigating terrorism.

That secrecy is "somewhat silly," complained Berlin, who noted that several newspapers have written of Ujaama's detention.