The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The guilty verdict on the terrorism conspiracy charge against his son was expected, Syed Riaz Ahmed said Wednesday.

But Ahmed said his son, Syed Haris Ahmed, never harmed anyone and only expressed thoughts that he never acted upon.

“You think something and you’re guilty,” Syed Riaz Ahmed said, standing outside a federal courtroom shortly after hearing his son pronounced guilty. “He’s not guilty of any crimes in the eyes of Allah. He’s guilty of U.S. laws.”

Syed Haris Ahmed was misled into his extremist thoughts by propagandist Web sites, his father said, adding that he believed his son never would have followed though on any plans to engage in terrorism.

Ahmed, a 24-year-old former Georgia Tech student, was convicted of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. During his trial last week, prosecutors introduced into evidence e-mails and Internet chats during which Ahmed said he wanted to engage in violent jihad.

In the summer of 2005, Ahmed went to Pakistan to join a terrorist training camp, but changed his mind and returned to Atlanta, re-enrolling at Georgia Tech. Federal prosecutors said that after Ahmed returned, he regretted not joining the camp and considered returning to Pakistan to follow through with his plans.

Ahmed will be sentenced after the Aug. 3 trial of his alleged co-conspirator, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee of Roswell.

“I’ve always thought this was a close case,” Ahmed’s lawyer, Jack Martin, said. “Perhaps this case all along was about what is the appropriate sentence.”

Ahmed already has spent more than three years in solitary confinement at the U.S. penitentiary here awaiting trial. He now faces up to 15 years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey, who presided as judge and jury during Ahmed’s trial last week, handed down the guilty verdict during a short hearing Wednesday.

The slight, bearded defendant, wearing a white skull cap, showed little emotion standing before Duffey. Returning to the defense table, he smiled and waved to his father and two of his sisters in the courtroom.

After the hearing, Ahmed’s 27-year-old sister, Mariam Ahmed, said her younger brother cooperated with the FBI during interrogations leading up to his arrest. The agents, she said, promised not to arrest her brother if he cooperated.

“They broke broke every single promise,” said Mariam Ahmed, who lives in Karachi, Pakistan.

Ahmed’s sister said she hopes Duffey will show some leniency on her brother because of the harsh conditions he has already endured at the penitentiary. “To me, he’s already suffered enough,” she said.

During his time at the penitientiary, her brother has memorized the Quran and strengthened his faith, she said.

Ahmed was convicted of conspiring to provide material support to terrorism in the United States and overseas.

Federal prosecutors said Ahmed and Sadequee went to Washington in 2005 and took videos of area landmarks that wound up on the computers of two men later convicted of terorrism charges in Great Britain. Prosecutors said Ahmed and Sadequee took the videos to earn the respect of terrorists overseas by showing how close they could get to potential targets of attack.

Prosecutors also said Ahmed recruited other men to go with him to join a terrorist training facility in Pakistan in the summer of 2005.

Martin, Ahmed’s lawyer, countered that his client never committed an act of terror. Ahmed was an impressionable, immature college student who fell prey to propagandist, extremist Websites and, while he talked big, never acted on any of his plans, Martin said.

Ahmed waived his right to a jury trial so he could give his closing argument. During his allotted 45 minutes, he recited from the Quran in Arabic and told Duffey that using U.S. laws to defend himself would put him in rebellion against God.

will all powerhouses on tech’s schedule, tech goes 7-4 at best

PS: I’m sending Will Ferrell over to your house this weekend to film a pilot in your honor. Compliments of a real powerhouse that you should consider.

As far as calling timeouts go….only the weakminded forget whinin’richt calling a timeout seconds before the half when he should have let the clock run out and gone in to regroup.

29 yrs…Timeout

Your a monster. Last championship….. 1980. That was epic. Atleast Tech one something called a national championship in 1990. LMAO. UGA fans, who won last year and who is going to win this?

It’s called summer vacation and our workouts are Mon-Thurs. Thanks for playing.

You’d rather keep Tech’s underrated record the past 10 years instead of UGA’s overrated record over the same time frame? Rrrrriiiggghhhttt.

So you would rather have Tech’s underrated record the last 10 years instead of UGA’s overrated one?

Did you read the article or are you just that stupid, Willy?

Thats very true. It became just another game which was boring. Thats why i’m actually happy that Tech has got better. Auburn vs UGA is the oldest rivalry in the south, which is why that is still around although even that has lost its touch, florida obviously is a huge game. I get tired of hearing that its not fair playing down there because when i go down the the UGA fans out number the UF fans. So we have no excuse.

Did you read the article first, or are you just that stupid?