[Opinion] 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Overturns Conviction of Accused Terrorism Recruiter

Court tosses convictions of Virginia scholar who backed terrorists

A federal appeals court on Friday acquitted a Virginia scholar criminally convicted of urging Muslims to fight with terrorist forces overseas after the 9/11 attacks waged by radical Islamist terrorists.  The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Ali Al-Timimi’s 2001 statements were protected under the First Amendment and did not reach the criminal level of inciting lawless actions. The decision tosses a 2005 verdict from a jury tha…

First Amendment Protects Islam Expert’s Post-Sept. 11 Speech Urging People to Join Taliban

An excerpt from today's long opinion in U.S. v. Al-Timimi, by Fourth Circuit Judge James Wynn, joined by Judges Stephanie Thacker and Pamela Harris: Ali Al-Timimi was convicted based entirely on words he spoke in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks—words that were inflammatory, disturbing, and deeply offensive, but that urged no concrete criminal plan and did not provide operational assistance for the commission of any part…

4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns conviction of accused terrorism recruiter

A man convicted of encouraging Muslims to fight overseas after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks engaged in free speech, an appellate court ruled.