Dog Cry Ranch
The Dog Cry Ranch was a sheep ranch near Bly, Oregon, that American security officials assert was to be the location of a jihad training camp.[1][2]
James Ujaama, an American convert to Islam, has admitted he met Abu Hamza al-Masri in 1999, and convinced him that together they could set up a military training camp where American recruits would be trained for jihad.[1] Abu Hamza was to provide funds and experienced trainers. Uyaama was to provide a safe location for the camp, weapons and the American recruits.
KOMO News reported, "According to court records, the whole setup was a hustle by petty crook James Ujaama of Seattle."[1]
Swedish citizen Oussama Kassir and british Haroon Rashid Aswat, two men who said they had attended training camps in Afghanistan, were to be the camp's trainers.[1] When the two men arrived to set up the camp in December 1999, they found there were just two recruits, Sami Osman and his teenage brother-in-law. They found Ujaama had supplied just two old guns and inadequate housing. Ujaama abandoned the camp and the men, the night of the complaint-filled day they arrived. At Kassir's trial, he and Aswat were described as trying to provide training to Osman and his brother-in-law, until they got a phone call from al Masri. Because they feared al Masri's phone call had been monitored, and had tipped off the American officials, they too fled the camp.
In fact, American security officials had been monitoring the developing plans since the first contact between al Masri and Ujaam.[1]
According to American law enforcement officials who tried to extradite al Masri, he could have faced a sentence of 100 years.[1][3][4] In return for pleading guilty to providing material support for terrorism, and agreeing to cooperate in helping to convict the British men, Ujaama received a two-year sentence.
The owner of the ranch and his wife were believed to have been unaware of any criminal or terrorist connection, and were not charged.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g
"Trial record provides account of Oregon jihad camp". Komo News. 2009-10-18. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
In late 1999, Ujaama made a pitch to a London imam, Abu Hamza al-Masri. He promised al-Masri a safe haven, recruits and weapons to transform the desert ranch into a Muslim military training camp, court records said.
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Les Zaitz (2009-10-17). "Terrorist plot unravels at rural Oregon ranch". Oregon Live. Archived from the original on 2012-04-30. Retrieved 2012-04-30.
The events that led to the effort 10 years ago to establish a jihad camp outside Bly have been well-chronicled. But testimony and exhibits from Kassir's trial in New York provide the fullest account to date of what went on behind the gates of the Dog Cry Ranch.
- ^ Dominic Casciani (2010-07-08). "Abu Hamza US extradition halted". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2011-10-01.
Abu Hamza, Mr Ahmad and Mr Ahsan face life sentences and US prosecutors have said that Abu Hamza could be jailed for 100 years. Mr Aswat faces a maximum of 50 years.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Court halts radical's extradition". Fox News Australia. 2010-07-09. Archived from the original on 2011-10-01.
The Strasbourg-based court said it wanted to look into the men's concerns over the length of their possible sentences and conditions at the ADX Florence "supermax" prison in Colorado where they were likely to be held