|
|
|
Jewish World Review July 28, 2009 /7 Menachem-Av 5769 7 charged with terrorism counts in North Carolina By Mandy Locke, Yonat Shimron and Josh Shaffer
 ALEIGH, N.C. —
To those they lived among, seven men accused of an intricate terrorism plot lived simply, quietly and kindly.
To neighbors and friends, To federal authorities, these men and four others plotted to kill themselves and others in the name of their religion. Their activities, tracked by FBI agents over three years and detailed in federal indictments released Monday, tell of an elaborate scheme hatched in a quiet Those arrested include All but one of the defendants were American citizens. Sherifi was a native of All seven men are charged with conspiring to provide support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad. Each is expected to have a detention hearing later this week. Until then, they are being held without bond. They have not been appointed lawyers. Efforts to reach their families were unsuccessful Monday night. Federal authorities stormed the defendants' homes Monday and arrested the men. Hours later, they stood before a federal magistrate and learned they could spend the rest of their lives in prison if found guilty of the charges against them. At nightfall, federal agents continued to search their homes, bringing several vans and dozens of agents to their quiet neighborhoods. News of their arrests rattled those they had befriended. "If he's a terrorist, he's the nicest terrorist I've ever met in my life," said Federal documents released Monday detail a half-dozen trips members of the group made to Investigators say the Boyds stockpiled military-style weapons and trained at a rural property in A spokesman at the Islamic Center in "In our dealings, we found them to be people of good moral character," said Federal officials heralded the arrests as a victory and invoked memories of the terrorist attacks of "These charges hammer home the point that terrorists and their supporters are not confined to the remote regions of some faraway land but can grow and fester right here at home," said According to the indictment, the men intended to become mujahedeen — holy warriors — and die as shadid, martyrs to the jihad. The "jihad of the sword" is the struggle to defend the faith when it is under attack. Those performing jihad of the sword believe they are defending their fellow Muslims against oppression. To neighbors in To U.S. intelligence officials, Boyd is an extremist with long, deep ties to terrorists in
After his parents divorced, though, Boyd converted to Islam when his mother remarried a Muslim man, according to a story in The In 1989, Boyd, the high school sweetheart he married, Sabrina, and his brother moved to The Boyd brothers ran afoul of Pakistani authorities, who ordered they have their right hands and left feet cut off after they found them guilty of robbing a bank. During the past three years, the Boyds settled into a routine at their home in a new subdivision in Their three sons went to In 2007, they lost a son, 16-year-old Luqman, in a single-car accident near their home. Neighbors who watched their family buckle under the grief of "That was such a huge blow to the family," said Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes inspirational material. Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here.
© 2009, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
| |||||||||||
