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| Seattle Man Held in Terror Probe |
| 2002-07-24 |
| An American Muslim activist who authorities believe took computer equipment to an Al Qaeda terrorist camp in Afghanistan has been taken into custody. James Ujaama, 36, was arrested Monday night in Denver as a material witness to terrorist activity. He was flown to Virginia, where he is being held. Investigators believe Ujaama may have supplied terrorists in Afghanistan with computer equipment. Authorities were investigating whether Ujaama also trained at the camp. Ujaama has not been formally charged. He a "community activist" in Seattle... Ujaama's brother, Mustafa, also was briefly detained Monday. Mustafa Ujaama answered reporters' shouted questions as he left his aunt's Denver home Tuesday. When asked if he was linked to terrorism, Mustafa Ujaama said, "No. Why [do] you ask me that? Of course not. I'm a veteran. I'm an American citizen. I've never even heard of Al Qaeda. My brother is not a terrorist and neither am I." "Never even heard of al Qaeda?" Oh, of course. Certainly not... The brothers were born James Ernest Thompson and Jon Thompson and grew up in Seattle. Some community leaders there have applauded their work to rid their neighborhood of drugs and prostitution by recruiting former gang members and others into the local mosque, Dar-us-Salaam. That mosque, now defunct, is under scrutiny for possible links to Al Qaeda. News reports say James Ujaama worked on a British Web site that advertised the "Ultimate Jihad Challenge," a paramilitary training course in the United States. British authorities shut the site down following the Sept. 11 attacks. He also runs a Web site called stopamerica.org, which opposes U.S. foreign policy. The site's full of corpse pictures and the usual accusations. It's not real clear on the difference between Kosovo and Chechnya. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |