Ga. Man Convicted of Terrorist Support

Pakistani American Videotaped Potential Targets in D.C. Area

A federal judge in Atlanta yesterday convicted Syed Haris Ahmed of conspiring to support terrorists, four years after he and a confederate traveled to the District to videotape possible targets and sent the footage to "jihadi brothers" overseas, prosecutors say.

Ahmed, 24, is a naturalized American citizen born in Pakistan and raised in Georgia. In April 2005, he made short digital videos of area landmarks, including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, the George Washington National Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, the World Bank and fuel tanks near Interstate 95 in Northern Virginia, according to the indictment.

Investigators later discovered that the footage was shared with Younis Tsouli, an alleged recruiter for al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Aabid Hussein Khan, who authorities say has ties to Pakistani Islamist militant groups such as Lashkar-i-Taiba. Both men have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes in British courts.

U.S. authorities never alleged that Ahmed, a onetime engineering student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, posed an imminent threat. Rather, his prosecution was another in a long line of cases in which law enforcement officials have sought to preempt alleged terrorist plots at early stages.

"The conviction in this case validates the FBI's approach that we do not need to wait, nor should we wait, for an individual to be caught with his hands on a bomb before we recognize and respond to the threat," said Gregory Jones, special agent in charge at the FBI's Atlanta office.

Ahmed's case also underscored the extent to which radicals use the Internet to recruit members, share information and maintain ties in far-flung countries such as Canada, Britain and Pakistan.

John R. "Jack" Martin, an attorney for Ahmed, said the case was a difficult one.

"The question is whether he was ever a serious conspirator or just a young, immature man seeking his identity and sometimes engaging in boastful talk," Martin said in a telephone interview.

Law enforcement agents arrested Ahmed in March 2006, and he has been held in solitary confinement in an Atlanta federal penitentiary since that time. He faces a statutory maximum prison term of 15 years when he is sentenced this fall.