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== Conversion to Islam ==
== Conversion to Islam ==
In late 1996, Ujaama returned to Seattle,<ref name=":1" /> where he converted to [[Islam]] circa 1997.<ref name=":0" /> Ujaama then moved to [[London]] and studied under Jamaican-born cleric [[Abdullah el-Faisal]].<ref name=":1" /> Moving between London and Seattle, Ujaama eventually started selling tapes of el-Faisal's sermons, but kept the proceeds.<ref name=":1" /> While in London, Ujaama married a Muslim woman from [[Somalia]].<ref name=":1" /> In late 1998, Ujaama spent two weeks in a [[jihad training camp]] in [[Afghanistan]].<ref name=":1" /> Ujaama later studied under [[Abu Hamza al-Masri]],<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> attending the [[Finsbury Mosque]].<ref name="background" />
In late 1996, Ujaama returned to Seattle,<ref name=":1" /> where he converted to [[Islam]] circa 1997.<ref name=":0" /> Ujaama then moved to [[London]] and studied under Jamaican-born cleric [[Abdullah el-Faisal]].<ref name=":1" /> Moving between London and Seattle, Ujaama eventually started selling tapes of el-Faisal's sermons, but kept the proceeds.<ref name=":1" /> While in London, Ujaama married a Muslim woman from [[Somalia]].<ref name=":1" /> In late 1998, Ujaama spent two weeks in a [[jihad training camp]] in [[Afghanistan]].<ref name=":1" /> Ujaama later studied under [[Abu Hamza al-Masri]],<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> attending the [[Finsbury Park Mosque]].<ref name="background" />


In late 1999, Ujaama returned to the United States, where he learned about a ranch in [[Bly, Oregon]].<ref name=":1" /> That October, he traveled to the ranch, where he carried out firearm practice; he sent a fax to [[Abu Hamza al-Masri]] to promote this idea, but he greatly exaggerated his progress.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" />{{unreliable source|date=June 2023}} He also drafted a flyer that said "Get away from dunia [earthly matters] and be among Muslims!", advertising a cost of {{Currency|660|GBP}}/{{Currency|1,100|USD}} (including airfare).<ref name=":2" />
In late 1999, Ujaama returned to the United States, where he learned about a ranch in [[Bly, Oregon]].<ref name=":1" /> That October, he traveled to the ranch, where he carried out firearm practice; he sent a fax to [[Abu Hamza al-Masri]] to promote this idea, but he greatly exaggerated his progress.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" />{{unreliable source|date=June 2023}} He also drafted a flyer that said "Get away from dunia [earthly matters] and be among Muslims!", advertising a cost of {{Currency|660|GBP}}/{{Currency|1,100|USD}} (including airfare).<ref name=":2" />

Revision as of 15:48, 31 October 2023

Earnest James Ujaama
عبد القادر
Born
James Earnest Thompson

1965 (age 58–59) or 1966 (age 57–58)[contradictory]
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Other names
  • Bilal Ahmed
  • Abu Samayya
  • Abdul Qaadir
Education
Websitedrujaama.com

Earnest James Ujaama (born 1965[1] or 1966[2][contradictory]) is an American community activist[3] and former terrorist suspect.

A long-term resident of Seattle and well-known community activist,[4] Ujaama was arrested under terrorism charges in July 2002, the first American to be detained on U.S. soil while under investigation using the Patriot Act.[5] Amid conflicting reports and media coverage of the extent of his involvement in terrorist networks, he has since been convicted three times of various offences, in 2003, 2007, and 2015.

Early life

Ujaama was born James Earnest Thompson in Denver in 1965,[5][6][1] and moved to Seattle while still a child.[5] He was born a Catholic.[7] His mother, Peggy Thompson, was a social worker at the Central Area Motivation Program.[1] At the age of 9, Thompson began a business in raking leaves;[8] at the age of 14, he started a business in home maintenance.[1][8] Thompson studied at Ingraham High School. Before he graduated from high school, he enrolled in the University of Washington, but dropped out after two years.[1][8]

In the mid-1980s, Thompson moved to Pelican, Alaska, where he worked at a seafood company.[5] At age 22, Thompson bought and ran a computer store in the University District of Seattle, renaming it Campus Computers. He sold it after six months.[9] He worked for Olympic Computers selling IBM computers, but was accused of carrying out scams on his customers.[5]

Thompson wrote the motivational book The Young People's Guide to Starting a Business Without Selling Drugs and the semi-autobiographical novel Coming Up. He then moved to Los Angeles to try to make his novel into a movie, without success.[5]

In the early 1990s, Thompson changed his name to Earnest James Ujaama;[8] he had followed his brother Mustafa Ujaama – born Jon Thompson – who had converted to Islam earlier while in the military.[1][3]

In 1993, Ujaama, funded by a grant from the city of Seattle, taught a class at Seattle Vocational Institute.[1] Ujaama was invited to speak at the 1994 NAACP convention in Chicago.[8] On June 10, 1994, then-state representative Jesse Wineberry declared it to be "James Ujaama Day" in the state of Washington.[4]

Conversion to Islam

In late 1996, Ujaama returned to Seattle,[5] where he converted to Islam circa 1997.[1] Ujaama then moved to London and studied under Jamaican-born cleric Abdullah el-Faisal.[5] Moving between London and Seattle, Ujaama eventually started selling tapes of el-Faisal's sermons, but kept the proceeds.[5] While in London, Ujaama married a Muslim woman from Somalia.[5] In late 1998, Ujaama spent two weeks in a jihad training camp in Afghanistan.[5] Ujaama later studied under Abu Hamza al-Masri,[5][1] attending the Finsbury Park Mosque.[4]

In late 1999, Ujaama returned to the United States, where he learned about a ranch in Bly, Oregon.[5] That October, he traveled to the ranch, where he carried out firearm practice; he sent a fax to Abu Hamza al-Masri to promote this idea, but he greatly exaggerated his progress.[5][10][unreliable source?] He also drafted a flyer that said "Get away from dunia [earthly matters] and be among Muslims!", advertising a cost of £660/US$1,100 (including airfare).[7]

In November/December 1999, Oussama Kassir and Haroon Aswat (emissaries from Abu Hamza) came to Bly to inspect the property.[11] (They arrived in New York City on an Air India flight on November 26, 1999; afterwards, they rode a Greyhound bus to Seattle, and were then driven by Ujaama to Bly.[5][11]) However, Kassir and Aswat realized upon their arrival that there was nothing in the ranch, and that Ujaama had been running a scam.[5]

In January 2000, Ujaama moved back to London.[5][11] From 2000 to 2001, Ujaama (under the alias Bilal Ahmed) operated the Supporters of Shariah website, which was used to advocate for "violent jihad".[11]

During this period, Ujaama was also known as Abu Samayya or Abdul Qaadir.[10][11]

Terrorism charges

On July 22 2002,[12] Ujaama was arrested at his grandmother's former house in Denver under a material witness warrant, becoming the first American to be detained on U.S. soil while under investigation using the Patriot Act.[5][13] He was charged by federal grand jury on August 28, 2002.[14] (The lead FBI agent in the case testified that he did not believe Ujaama needed to be locked up.[15])

Ujaama eventually admitted to aiding the Taliban as part of a plea deal.[5] He pled guilty to violating the IEEPA for installing software for a friend to use on a computer owned by the Taliban, and "conspiring to take Feroz Abassi to go and fight with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance." He was sentenced on this charge in April 2003.[5] In exchange for two years in jail, Ujaama agreed to testify against Abu Hamza, Oussama Kassir, and Haroon Aswat. All three were charged by prosecutors, but resisted extradition.[5]

In December 2006, Ujaama fled to Belize, but was arrested there again. Returning to Manhattan, he again pled guilty in 2007 and was sentenced to four further years in jail. He again testified against Kassir in 2009 and against Abu Hamza in 2014.[5]

On October 23, 2015, Ujaama was convicted for a third time at a U.S. district court in Manhattan.[5] He was sentenced to time served.[16]

Later life

Since 2015, Ujaama has engaged in doctoral studies at the University of Washington.[5] He has worked as a trucker and travelled overseas.[17] In a 2021 interview, he said the case against him was "a farce" and accused the US Justice Department of misrepresenting the camp he trained at by falsely linking it to al-Qaida. He said, "I don’t feel like I didn’t do anything immoral or wrong … I believed in what I was doing … All these things get turned around and twisted around."[17]

Selected bibliography

  • Ujaama, Ej. (1991). Young People's Guide to Starting a Business. Self-published.
  • Ujaama, Ej. (1993). Entrepreneur Basics 101. Seattle, WA: Be Your Own Boss Publishing.
  • Ujaama, Ej. (1994). How to Be An Entrepreneur. Seattle, WA: Be Your Own Boss Publishing.
  • Ujaama, Ej. (1996). Coming Up. Seattle, WA: Inner-City Publishing.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ujaama's conversion: A passion for business, then zealotry for Islam". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  2. ^ Renzo, Anthony F. (2007). "Making a Burlesque of the Constitution: Military Trials of Civiliams in the War Against Terrorism" (PDF). Vermont Law Review. 31.
  3. ^ a b Jamieson, Robert L. (July 18, 2002). "Real case against Ujaama yet to be made". seattlepi.com. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "From community activist to alleged terror conspirator". CNN Law Center. August 29, 2002.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Aaronson, Trevor (April 20, 2017). "Terrorism Defendants With Concrete Ties to Violent Extremists Leverage Their Connections to Avoid Prison". The Intercept. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  6. ^ Bernton, Hal; Carter, Mike (December 21, 2014). "Seattle man helped Brits find man tied to London terror plots". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Hirschkorn, Phil (May 7, 2014). "The Terror Camp That Wasn't". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  8. ^ a b c d e McDonnell, Patrick J. (September 22, 2002). "The Entrepreneur Who Saw Road to Profit in Al Qaeda". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  9. ^ "Young, Gifted And Black -- 'Living Large' The Legal Way -- Entrepreneur, 25, Shares Tips On Business With Teen Gangs | The Seattle Times". archive.seattletimes.com. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  10. ^ a b "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, vs. EARNEST JAMES UJAAMA, aka Bilaf Ahmed, aka Abu Smayya, aka James Earnest Thompson, aka Abdul Qaadir, Defendant" (PDF). www.investigativeproject.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 19, 2007.
  11. ^ a b c d e McDonnell, Patrick J. (September 22, 2002). "The Entrepreneur Who Saw Road to Profit in Al Qaeda". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  12. ^ Holguin, Jamie (July 24, 2002). "Seattle man arrested in terror probe". CBS News.
  13. ^ Feit, Josh (September 5, 2002). "A.K.A. Bilal Ahmed U.S. charges Seattle man with ties to al Qaeda". The Stranger. With the exception of Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, it's the first public indictment brought against a U.S. citizen on domestic terrorism charges in the Bush administration's "War on Terrorism".
  14. ^ "Seattle man charged with aiding al Qaeda". CNN.com. August 29, 2002. Archived from the original on November 3, 2007. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  15. ^ Skolnik, Sam (November 13, 2002). "Ujaama isn't threat, agent says". seattlepi.com. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  16. ^ Moynihan, Colin (October 23, 2015). "Terror Suspect's Aid in Other Cases Spares Him More Prison". The New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  17. ^ a b Bernton, Hal (September 11, 2021). "Algeria to Afghanistan: Our reporter's dispatches from the front lines of the 9/11 wars". Seattle Times. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
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