Al Qaeda Supporter Convicted of 11 Counts

MANHATTAN (CN) - Oussama Abdullah Kassir aka Abu Abdullah aka Abu Khadija, a Swedish citizen who tried to establish a jihad training camp in Bly, Ore., was found guilty of supporting al Qaeda after a four-week jury trial in Federal Court. He will be sentenced on Sept. 2, and faces multiple terms of life imprisonment.

One of his co-conspirators faxed radical London cleric Abu Hamza a letter saying that the training camp took advantage of the fact that Oregon is a "pro-militia and fire-arms state" and that the property in Bly "looks just like Afghanistan," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. The co-conspirator said the group was "stock-piling weapons and ammunition," prosecutors added.

According to the indictment and evidence at trial:

When he received this letter in late 1999, Hamza sent Kassir and his alleged cohort Haroon Rashid Aswat from England to Bly, where Kassir told witnesses that he supported Osama Bin Laden and had undergone jihad training in Pakistan. A witness saw him carrying a CD with instructions on how to make bombs and poisons.

After leaving the camp, Kassir and Aswat traveled to Seattle, where they stayed at the Dar Us Salaam Mosque. From there, Kassir gave lessons on "how to assemble and disassemble AK-47s and how to alter an AK-47 to launch a grenade."

He established at least six Web sites, featuring cyber-pamphlets such as "The Mujahideen Explosives Handbook" and "The Mujahideen Poisons Handbook." He operated the sites from 2001 until he was arrested.

The jury found Kassir guilty of all 11 counts, including providing support to al Qaeda, conspiracy to kill or maim people overseas, and distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction.

Hamza and Aswat are awaiting extradition proceedings, which are pending in the European Court of Human Rights, to be tried in the United States.

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