Earnest James Ujaama

Earnest James Ujaama
عبد القادر
Born	James Earnest Thompson 1965 (age 58–59) Denver, Colorado, United States of America
Other names	Bilal Ahmed Abu Samayya Abdul Qaadir
Education	Ph.D. - Walden University MA. Ed. – Antioch University B.A. – University of Washington
Website	drujaama.com

Earnest James Ujaama (born 1965), born James Earnest Thompson, is an American community activist and former terrorist suspect.

A long-term resident of Seattle and well-known community activist, Ujaama was arrested under terrorism charges in July 2002, the first American to be detained on U.S. soil while under investigation using the Patriot Act. Amid conflicting reports and media coverage of the extent of his involvement in terrorist networks, he has since been convicted three times of various offences, in 2003, 2007, and 2015.

Early life

Ujaama was born in Denver in 1965, and moved to Seattle while still a child. He studied at Ingraham High School and at the University of Washington (the latter for only two years). At the age of 14, Ujaama started his first business in home maintenance.

In the mid-1980s, Ujaama moved to Pelican, Alaska, where he worked at a seafood company.

In the early 1990s, Ujaama moved back to Seattle. There, he worked for Olympic Computers selling IBM computers, but was accused of carrying out scams on his customers. He also wrote the motivational book The Young People’s Guide to Starting a Business Without Selling Drugs and the semi-autobiographical novel Coming Up. He then moved to Los Angeles to try to make his novel into a movie, without success.

Conversion to Islam (1996–2002)

In late 1996, Ujaama returned to Seattle, where he converted to Islam circa 1997. He then moved to London and studied under Jamaican-born cleric Abdullah el-Faisal. Moving between London and Seattle, Ujaama eventually started selling tapes of el-Faisal's sermons, but kept the proceeds. While in London, Ujaama married a Muslim woman from Somalia. In late 1998, Ujaama spent two weeks in a jihad training camp in Afghanistan.

Ujaama later studied under Abu Hamza al-Masri. He was also known as Bilal Ahmed, Abu Samayya, or Abdul Qaadir.

Terrorism charges (2002–2015)

On July 22, 2002, Ujaama was arrested at his former grandmother's house in Denver under a material witness warrant, becoming the first American to be detained on U.S. soil while under investigation using the Patriot Act. He was charged by federal grand jury on August 28, 2002, with trying to set up an al Qaeda training camp in rural Oregon in an attempt to promote "violent jihad" against the United States.

Original indictment

In the government's original indictment, Ujaama was charged with one count of conspiracy to Provide Material Support and Resources. This indictment specifies Al-Qaida as the intended receiver of support and resources and was the object of the conspiracy. The indictment also describes the conspiracy as a plan to "offer and provide facilities in the United States of America for training of persons interested in violent jihad; to provide safe houses in the United States of America for the conspirators; to recruit persons interested in violent jihad and jihad training; to provide actual training of such persons in firearms, military and guerrilla tactics, and related activities; and to sponsor partially trained personnel for further violent jihad training and operations coordinated by Al Qaida, in order to assist such persons and groups to promote violent jihad activities around the world." (Ujaama indictment, 2002)

Final charges

Ujaama was charged with four counts under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which prohibits U.S. citizens from "any transactions or dealings" with the Taliban, including "funds, goods, or services to or for the benefit of the Taliban" and "services to the territory of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban". The four counts were:

• (1) Title 18 USC 371 Conspiracy to provide and conceal material support, in relationship to a plan to develop a "jihad" training camp in Bly, Oregon;
• (2) Title 18 USC 2339A Conspiracy to provide and conceal material support, in relationship to an agreement to take Feroz Abassi to Afghanistan to join the Taliban in their fight against Northern Alliance;
• (3) Title 18 USC 2339A and 2 Providing and concealing material support, in relationship to [alleged] conduct of Feroz Abassi; and
• (4) Unlawful Flight to Avoid Testimony in relationship to leaving the country without permission.

The offense for count one ended on January 1, 2000. Although there had been an investigation in that same year, Ujaama was not charged with a crime until after August 2002. Government prosecutors agreed that Ujaama had less knowledge of the ultimate purpose of the provision of the material support, because as they also stated, "(he) testified at the Kassir trial that he did not intend for the Bly training camp to support Al-Qaeda", and "the government is aware of no information to the contrary". Throughout the trial, Ujaama maintained his innocence in supporting a terrorist organization, though he admitted his support for the Taliban, as the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Government prosecutors acknowledged in their sentencing memorandum that the flyer for Ujaama's camp had advertised survival training, horse riding, archery, combat and martial arts, rifle and handgun handling, hunting and Koran recitation, all of which are legal.

Ujaama eventually admitted to aiding the Taliban as part of a plea deal. He pled guilty to violating the IEEPA for installing software for a friend to use on a computer owned by the Taliban, and "conspiring to take Feroz Abassi to go and fight with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance." He was sentenced on this charge in April 2003. In exchange for two years in jail, Ujaama agreed to testify against Abu Hamza, Oussama Kassir, and Haroon Aswat. All three were charged by prosecutors, but resisted extradition.

Further charges

In December 2006, Ujaama fled to Belize, but was arrested there again. Returning to Manhattan, he again pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four further years in jail. He again testified against Kassir in 2009 and against Abu Hamza in 2014.

On October 23, 2015, Ujaama was sentenced for a third time at a U.S. district court in Manhattan. He has since been released.

Later life (2015–present)

Since 2015, Ujaama lives either in Berkeley or Seattle. He has engaged in doctoral studies at the University of Washington.

Legacy of case

The case against Ujaama was from the start described as "complicated". The various charges made by the government and reported in the media evolved and changed over a period of nearly 13 years, such as allegations that Ujaama was involved in a plan to poison water supplies with links to the Al-Qaeda network.

Most news stories reported Ujaama as a well-known and prominent activist in the community which made it harder for the government to simply brand him a terrorist. BBC world news reported "Al-Qaeda suspect arrested in Denver" but also that "Seattle newspapers said Mr. Ujaama was well-known in the black community". CNN reported that Ujaama had been known for years as a prominent community activist in Seattle, "working to help the city's poor and promoting entrepreneurship as a way up the economic ladder", though also described him in a report on August 29, 2002, as "a well-known Islamic activist in the Seattle-area" charged with attempting to set up an al Qaeda terrorist training camp in rural Oregon.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported, "the lead FBI in the case testified that he did not believe the terrorism conspiracy suspect was sufficiently dangerous that he needed to be locked up pending his trial.."

In almost every newspaper report, the government was cited or journalists reported that Ujaama was either a major Al-Qaeda terrorist conspirator or a hustler out to make a buck. On July 24, 2002, The Seattle Times, Winner of Ten Pulitzer Prizes, reported "Ujaama's conversion: A passion for business, then zealotry for Islam." The article went on to describe Ujaama's past efforts to keep kids out of drugs and gangs by teaching them entrepreneurship and as "charismatic young man planted firmly in the mainstream of America's capitalism." The reporters of the article noted Ujaama's "work in Seattle's Central Area earned him the support and admiration of community leaders." But they went on to describe an investigation that "produced a starkly different image of this man a decade later: A zealous Islamic convert sharply critical of the United States [and] a man working in support of the Al-Qaida network."

On July 17, 2002, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Columnist, Robert Jamieson, Jr. wrote that millions of people would come to know Ujaama as a "possible lackey for bin Laden and Muslim extremist." He cautioned that in a rush for quick conviction what would be lost was Ujaama was a community activist who had received a state proclamation for his work in steering youth away from the lure of drug selling and gang violence, or as a writer who successfully published a "hood novella" and as a man who had an "unbridled passion for helping the underdog and for railing loudly against injustice." His article continued to offer up a description of Ujaama as not much different than who everyone admits he was then and is now, a man with a great gift of persuasion, passion for helping others, and a disdain for war and injustice.

In the end, Politico magazine would report "the Terror camp that wasn’t" citing a fax where Ujaama wrote to the Egyptian-born Imam located in London, Abu Hamza al-Masri also known as Mustafa Kamel Mustafa. In the fax, Ujaama wrote "Get away from dunia [earthly matters] and be among Muslims!" Citing a federal official, the magazine reported, "Ujaama basically saw this as a cash cow, [n]o self-respecting international terrorist would have anything to do with Ujaama's plan."

The magazine also reported that he wrote, referring to the Bly training camp, "It is 100% legal, and so are all of our activities." Government prosecutors did admit that much citing in their sentencing memorandum that Ujaama's flyer had advertised survival training, horse riding, archery, combat and martial arts, rifle and handgun handling, hunting and Koran recitation — all things that are actually legal.(Government Sentencing memorandum).

One of the members, Abdur-Rahim Ali Ar-Rashad, told the Seattle P-I, "We did nothing that any other group of white boys wouldn’t do. We shot targets and rode horses and that's it." He continued to charge, "Since we were black and Muslims and young, they figured we were doing something criminal."

Selected bibliography

• Ujaama, Ej. (1991). Young People's Guide to Starting a Business. Self-published.
• Ujaama, Ej. (1993). Entrepreneur Basics 101. Seattle, WA: Be Your Own Boss Publishing.
• Ujaama, Ej. (1994). How to Be An Entrepreneur. Seattle, WA: Be Your Own Boss Publishing.
• Ujaama, Ej. (1996). Coming Up. Seattle, WA: Inner-City Publishing.
• Strickland, Daryl. (1991, August 1). Young, Gifted and Black -- 'Living Large' The Legal Way – Entrepreneur, 25, Shares Tips on Business with Teen Gangs. The Seattle Times.

External links

• Official website