Two Get 18 Years; Tried to Join Taliban [American Muslims in Oregon]

The Ledger ^ | Monday, November 24, 2003 | ANDREW KRAMER

[yonif]

Two American Muslims who tried to join the Taliban were sentenced to 18 years in prison Monday during a hearing in which they denounced the Bush administration and pleaded in song for freedom.

Patrice Lumumba Ford, 32, and Jeffrey Leon Battle, 33, had pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to levy war against the United States.

Both said that in trying to reach Afghanistan, they were fulfilling their Islamic duty to defend fellow Muslims.

"The attack on Afghanistan killed and maimed thousands of people without achieving its objective," said Ford, who had traveled to China in an unsuccessful attempt to reach Afghanistan. "I refuse to stand passive in the face of such policies."

Ford, once an intern at Portland's City Hall, said he felt obliged to defend his fellow Muslims against "President Bush's cruise-missile diplomacy."

Ford also assailed the crackdown on Muslim radicals after Sept. 11, which he said was calculated more to score political points than pursue justice.

"I don't think that anybody with a conscience could participate in the prosecutions of this country," he said.

U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones admonished Ford by saying: "You do not represent the Muslim faith. Muslims do not engage in the activities you engaged in. You are an insult to that faith."

Jones also brushed aside Ford's claim that he was motivated by a humanitarian desire to help Afghan civilians, saying Ford had clearly intended to join the Taliban as a foot soldier and would have killed U.S. soldiers if he had a chance.

"If you had been on the firing line, you would have killed an American," Jones said.

Battle, a former Army reservist, also spoke of his obligations as a Muslim and concluded by singing a 10-minute song he said he had written in prison. The courtroom was silent during the song, which ended with the stanza, "Free, free, free, for all humanity, release me."

Battle and Ford were among six people accused of conspiring to travel to Afghanistan in 2001 and fight U.S. troops after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A seventh was charged with providing financial support.

Four of the others pleaded guilty, and a fifth was killed in a shootout in Pakistan.

[yonif]

U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones admonished Ford by saying: "You do not represent the Muslim faith. Muslims do not engage in the activities you engaged in. You are an insult to that faith."

[Prime Choice]

the song, which ended with the stanza, "Free, free, free, for all humanity, release me."

Apparently, there were no takers. The guy's still going to jail. ; )

[jennyp]

U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones admonished Ford by saying: "You do not represent the Muslim faith. Muslims do not engage in the activities you engaged in. You are an insult to that faith."

I hope this wasn't an essential part of his rationale for sentencing him. Because if it was, it would be grounds for appeal on the basis that it simply isn't true.