Georgia Based Terrorist Sentenced To 17 Years

A former Georgia Tech student Ehsanul Islam Sadequee was sentenced to 17 years in prison for terrorist offenses today in Atlanta.

Sadequee's beliefs, the judge said, were "chillingly displayed" on videos Sadequee and his co-defendant Syed Haris Ahmed made of Washington-area landmarks. As the two men drove by the Pentagon, Sadequee turned the camera onto the military complex and can be heard saying reverently, "This is where our brothers attacked."

His co defendant is expected to also be sentenced later today.

"This is not about your faith," Duffey told Sadequee. "This is about the rule of law in our country, which you say does not apply to you and what you pronounced today will never apply to you."

UPDATE: The second man in this trial has been sentenced to 13 years.

Syed Haris Ahmed was sentenced to 13 years in prison Monday for sending the tapes of U.S. landmarks to terror suspects overseas. The 24-year-old faced up to 15 years in prison after his June conviction.

Ahmed was also sentenced to 30 years supervised release.

Terrorist Found Guilty In Georgia

There has been a trial ongoing in Georgia for a while involving a suspected terrorist sympathiser, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee. Well we no longer have to use the words alleged or suspected because the jury has found him guilty.

Jurors found Sadequee guilty on all four counts he was charged with.

The found him guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Guilty of providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

Guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

And guilty of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

The verdict was reached in 6 hours after a trial in which the defendant represented himself and even called his partner in crime to the stand to testify. He faces 60 years in prison.

Islamic Outreach: 'The Christians of America, My Message Is This: We Worship the Same God'

Feel the love of Islam.

A former Georgia Tech student charged with plotting to help terrorist groups turned the closing arguments in his federal trial on Thursday into a bewildering lesson on Islamic principles amid stunned courtroom observers.

Syed Haris Ahmed, 24, had waived his right to a jury trial so he could deliver closing arguments and warned last month he would use his time to focus on the "message of Islam."

Even so, the judge, prosecutors and even his defense attorney seemed unprepared: He read nine verses of the Quran in Arabic and never directly addressed the charges that could land him 15 years in federal prison.

"I hope that if I deliver the message that has been revealed by Allah, the promise of protection from evil will come to me," Ahmed said during the hushed and sometimes stumbling 45-minute address.

Prosecutors contend that Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee took a 2005 road trip to Washington, D.C., to shoot 62 "casing videos" of the Pentagon, the Capitol and other landmarks they wanted to send overseas to earn the respect of foreign terrorists.

The clips, as well as Ahmed's alleged attempts to connect with terrorists in Canada and Pakistan, are at the center of federal charges that he provided support for terrorism in the U.S. and abroad.

Sadequee, who has also pleaded not guilty, is scheduled to go on trial in August.

Don't forget: Islam is a religion of peace.

The defendant, wearing a white skullcap and scraggly beard, got his chance a few hours later when he walked to the podium directly in front of U.S. District Judge William Duffey.

He said no one harassed him about his beliefs during his 10 years living in Georgia, and said he only wanted to help the public understand his faith.

He spoke of linguistic similarities between Hebrew and Arabic, quoted from the Quran and the Bible, and delved into some of the shared beliefs of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

"The Christians of America, my message is this: We worship the same God," he said.