New Indictments For Conspiring to Commit Terrorist Acts Against Americans (updated)

By Andrew Cochran

One year ago to this day, I posted about indictments announced that day against three men in Ohio for supporting terrorist attacks in Iraq and of threatening to kill President Bush. Today, DOJ announced additional indictments in that case against the three Ohio men and added two men from Illinois to the superseding indictment. The DOJ press release announced charges against the two new defendants, Zubair A. Ahmed and his cousin, Khaleel Ahmed, both of Chicago, for conspiring to commit terrorist acts against Americans overseas. The three Ohio men (Amawi, El-Hindi and Mazloum) are jointly charged in the new indictment with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Amawi is charged with making threats against the President; Amawi and El-Hindi are charged with distributing information regarding explosives; and El-Hindi is charged with making and using false documents.

You can download all indictments in the case from the website of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, which is leading the prosecution. The indictments provide chilling details of the defendants' alleged training received with the help of another person, named only "the Trainer":

On or about April 29, 2005, AMAWI, MAZLOUM, and another individual practiced target shooting at an indoor range. AMAWI paid for the rental of two shooting lanes, and the rental of two handguns, a Beretta 9 mm pistol and a Glock 40 caliber pistol. AMAWI, MAZLOUM, the Trainer, and the other individual discussed the importance of keeping their training secret. On or about April 29, 2005, the Trainer discussed with AMAWI and MAZLOUM training with real explosives during the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, when the sounds of the explosions would not raise undue suspicion... On or about October 14, 2004, in the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division, the defendant, MOHAMMAD ZAKI AMAWI, knowingly and willfully did verbally threaten to kill or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, to and in the presence of another person.

UPDATE: A CT Blog reader points out language in the indictment indicating that plotting with the two new defendants occurred at a "convention in Cleveland," which was almost certainly the 2004 convention of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and Muslim American Society (MAS). Among the honored speakers at that convention was Imam Fawaz Damra, leader of Ohio's largest mosque, who lied to the FBI about his friendships with leaders of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, raised funds for Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists (he was an associate of Sami al-Arian), and was convicted for lying about past links to terrorist groups and ultimately deported. You can access numerous past CT Blog posts about Damra's activities and associations here, and you can read about MAS and ICNA in this post.

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