Sabri Benkahla

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Sabri Benkahla was convicted on February 5, 2007 on two counts for perjury before a grand jury. The first count was for obstruction of justice and the second for making a false statement to agents of the Wikipedia:Federal Bureau of Investigation (Wikipedia:FBI). This conviction qualified for sentencing enhancement pursuant to 3A1.4, Application Note 2. The sentence he received was 10 years.

There was insufficient evidence to prove that Sabri Benkahla had trained in an Afghanistani rather than a Pakistani military training camp, either which would have been an offense under Title 50, United States Code, SEction 1705, or Title 18, United States Code, Sections 924, 960, 2339A, or 2339 B. It is indeed a stretch of the imagination to encompass the idea that there was sufficient evidence to say Benkahla trained in either place, and therefore the original charges were dropped.

There was also no evidence, of course to show that he had helped the Taliban (WP), as the law noted above has been made so restrictive that it need not even fulfill this most basic of requirements.

However, despite this lack of evidence, perjury charges were brought, claiming that Benkahla had lied when he said that he had not attended training camps, and Benkahla was found guilty. The legal rule of double jeopardy exists to prevent occurrences of this sort.

Benkhala remains in prison in an isolation unit in Terre Haute, Indiana, even though he has been classified as a minimum security prisoner. In June 2010 the American Civil Liberties Union (WP) and their Wikipedia:Indiana branch filed a complaint challenging his confinement in (CMU) Terre Haute

Personal Details

Benkahla is in his mid-thirties and an American (WP) Wikipedia:citizen. He attended a Wikipedia:Catholic Wikipedia:elementary school in Wikipedia:Falls Church, Wikipedia:VA and a public high school in Wikipedia:Fairfax County. He graduated from the Wikipedia:George Mason University with honors in Wikipedia:International Relations and Wikipedia:Comparative Religion. He also studied for an Wikipedia:MA at Wikipedia:John Hopkins University and Wikipedia:Islamic Law and Wikipedia:Jurisprudence at the Wikipedia:Medina University.

Case History

Wikipedia:Sabri Bekahla was born and raised in Wikipedia:Virginia, United States of America (WP). He was accused in Summer 1999 of traveling to Wikipedia:England and then buying tickets to Wikipedia:Pakistan. It was said that he crossed the Wikipedia:Af-Pak border into the Wikipedia:Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to train in a Wikipedia:Lashkar-e-Tayba (Wikipedia:LeT) training camp. It was said it was there that he learned to fire a Wikipedia:Kalashnikov Wikipedia:assault rifle (Wikipedia:AK47 or Wikipedia:AKM) and rocket propelled grenade launcher (Wikipedia:RPG). He was charged with, “supplying services to the Taliban and using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence”

Arrest

In 2003 Benkahla was seized in Wikipedia:Saudi Arabia. His detention was associated with Wikipedia:Ahmed Omar Abu Ali. Benkahla had been near to graduating from Wikipedia:Medina University. He was also taken on the night before his wedding. He was, “arrested, blindfolded, handcuffed, shackled and held in horrific conditions at behest of the Wikipedia:FBI” and held, “incommunicado in 8 x 8 foot concrete cell while his dumbfounded family wondered why he failed to appear at his own wedding”. He was then Wikipedia:rendered back to the USA by agents from the Wikipedia:FBI while, “forced to wear opaque goggles with duct tape, shackled in a painful position, and left in a sealed pod for approximately seventeen hours”.

Indictment

In June 2003 Benkahla was indicted with ten others as part of the Wikipedia:Virginia paintball trials. These investigations accused Wikipedia:Ali Al-Timimi of encouraging a number of people including Benkahla to go to Wikipedia:Pakistan and join the Wikipedia:Taliban. The group were said to have used paintball as a form of military training. Many of them were arrested and accused of supporting the Wikipedia:Taliban or training with Wikipedia:LeT in Pakistan.

Charge

In September 2003 Benkahla was Wikipedia:charged with supplying services to the Wikipedia:Taliban and using a Wikipedia:firearm in furtherance of that Wikipedia:offence. There was a motion to sever the case from that of the other co-defendants which was successful.

Wikipedia:Al-Timimi on the 4th April 2005 was charged with aiding/inciting/abetting 'the Wikipedia:terrorist network' and received 70 years without a chance for Wikipedia:parole.

In March 2004 Benkahla went on a one day bench trial. He was acquitted by Wikipedia:Judge Wikipedia:Leonie M. Brinkema. Wikipedia:Judge Brinkema stated: "The uncontested evidence again is the defendant had been held under conditions which would not be acceptable for a United States-based defendant...". He also “called his arrest and transfer to American authorities "a Kafkaesque situation."”

There was a lack of evidence to show he had trained in Afghanistan rather than Pakistan. And even if there was evidence to say Benkahla trained in Afghanistan, there was also no evidence to show that he had helped the Wikipedia:Taliban.

In August and November 2004 Benkahla spoke before a grand jury. Agents from the Wikipedia:FBI were still investigating who had gone to the training camps and also military people connected to Wikipedia:Dar al-Aqam. The Wikipedia:FBI had also thought that Benkahla had attended the camps without checking if this is true, which meant, “over the next few months, the government compelled Benkahla to testify before each of the grand juries and to meet with the FBI several times in ancillary proceedings, with immunity from criminal prosecution for truthful testimony” about him being part of military training camps and fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 1999. He was also asked about the people he knew who had also gone to the military training camps, including those from Wikipedia:Dar Al-Arqam, "global terrorists' and people the officials from the US government think are helping Wikipedia:Al-Qaeda. Many of the people who were connected to Wikipedia:Dar Al-Arqam were said to have gone to military camps. It was also said that Benkahla had told the grand jury incorrect information about the people he met on the said 1999 trip to a LeT camp.

Perjury

An indictment was filed against Benkahla on the 9th February 2006 on two counts: the first count was for perjury, which said that on August 26th he “unlawfully and knowingly made a false declaration”, but what actually happened was not made clear; and that he had said that he did not see anyone in Pakistan firing any weapons, he never fired an Wikipedia:AK-47 or used an Wikipedia:RPG, he was not sure he was going to Wikipedia:Pakistan when he left London (WP) and that he only decided to go because an Abdella in London said he would show him around Wikipedia:Pakistan. The second count was for obstruction of justice because the prosecution people said that between August and November 2004 Benkahla, “unlawfully, wilfully, and knowingly did corruptly influence, obstruct and impede, and endeavour to corruptly influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice by knowingly and wilfully testifying falsely and evasively” at two grand juries; that what he said, “obstructed and impeded the grand jury’s ability to ascertain who had participated in a jihad training camp or combat... the grand jury’s ability to ascertain who had helped arrange Benkhala’s participation...” and that agents from the FBI asked Benkahla about Wikipedia:Ibrahim Buisir and Wikipedia:Manaf Kasmuri who have been put on a list of 'Specially Designated Global Terrorists' and also Wikipedia:Ahmed Abu Ali (his friend in Wikipedia:Medina University and someone the Wikipedia:FBI agents thought was Wikipedia:Malik al-Tunisi . There was an attempt made to get the charges thrown out on collateral estoppel reasons. Wikipedia:Evan Kohlman and others were also brought to talk in court.

Raid

A week before Sabri's case agents from the FBI raided his father's medicine business, put his brother behind bars and sister in hospital

Trial

From January to February 2007 the perjury case went to trial.

Enhanced Sentencing

At sentencing people from the US government said that Benkahla should get his sentenced boosted up (Wikipedia:enhanced sentencing). From the Wikipedia:district court a case can only be for 'enhanced sentencing' if it (1) “seeks specific information regarding terrorism offenses” and meets motivational requirement (Book 64); (2) must show actual obstruction of investigation. The district court then said that Benkahla's case meets these rules in these books specifically on page 75.

This increased Benkahla's offence level from 26 to 32 and put him in the criminal history category for I to VI . But officials in the court granted downward departure of sentencing and so reduced it to 121 months, from the original which was between 210–262 months. There was a even a letter given in by Wikipedia:Congressman Wikipedia:Moran supporting Benkahla.

Appeal

On April 11, 2008, Benkahla appealed. He put forward for the Wikipedia:Fourth Circuit to consider whether the:

1. second prosecution violated Double Jeopardy clause of 5th Amendment
2. court “admitted irrelevant or unduly prejudicial evidence regarding radical Islamic terrorism”
3. application of Section 3A1.4 violated Sixth Amendment
4. court really had sufficient evidence to corroborate Benkahla’s admissions and support the verdict

And on the 23rd June 2008 his appeal was decided and he lost on all counts.

Terre Haute

Benkahla was taken to Communication Management Unit (CMU) Wikipedia:Terre Haute.

American Civil Liberties Union

In June 2010 the American Civil Liberties Union ((WP)) decided that they will fight Benkahla's being in the CMU.

Notable elements of case

Below are a number of points that make the case interesting.

Procedural improprieties

Double Jeopardy

As shown by the defence in the Court of Appeals Benkahla was put in double jeopardy, and left the question whether the second trial broke the principle of Wikipedia:collateral estoppel. For example, if Benkahla was found not guilty of going to military camps in the Wikipedia:Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, how could it have been said that he denied attending these camps? There was no new evidence that came out after the first trial. And so he had not been found guilty in the first trial on the same evidence that was used to try to get him in the second.

Prejudicial Evidence

The trail brought in 'evidence' that was not balanced and not concerning Benkahla's case. This was what Wikipedia:Evan Kohlmann brought. He talked about radical (WP) Wikipedia:Islam and Wikipedia:jihad in a wide way and also spoke about the Wikipedia:Taliban, “Benkahla takes special note of a passage in which Kohlmann remarked that, for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, "Americans, no matter where they are on earth, whether they’re civilian or military, are considered to be a target. There are no innocent civilians."”. There was also the testimony of Wikipedia:Sarah Linden, a Wikipedia:FBI agent. Wikipedia:Linden's testimony included video, photographs and a taped confession of Wikipedia:Abu Ali. And on top of there were things said about Wikipedia:9/11, Wikipedia:Bin Laden and Wikipedia:terrorist activities. It got so bad that,

“The Judge himself had to reprimand the prosecutors on several occasions for overstepping the very loose boundaries he set. The tactics used by the prosecution were effective in confusing and scaring the jury into a guilty verdict.”

There was evidences which was not allowed in one place but allowed in another . And example of this being that Wikipedia:Benkahla not being found guilty in the first place was not allowed but people from the prosecution were allowed to bring the evidence used in that previous case which did not give the Wikipedia:jury the whole picture.

The process of In limine exists to help prevent against the introduction of prejudicial evidence.

Appeal

Benkahla was resentenced on appeal to 10 years:

“United States v. Benkahla: Illustrating the Need for Reform – the Fourth Circuit’s Unprecedented Application of the United States Sentencing Guideline Terrorism Enhancement to an Obstruction of Justice Conviction” was “overzealous use of Section 3A1.4, Note 2 in Benkahla indicates that the United States Sentencing Commission needs to reevaluate the obstruction of justice terrorism enhancement.” because it “makes it much, much easier for government to prove that obstruction of justice convictions justify use of terrorism enhancement: in other words, “defendants who are not convicted of crimes that directly involve terrorism and are unaware that their testimony is obstructing a terrorism investigation can receive a sentence of up to 262 months of imprisonment”. In sum, “The district court even declared that ― Sabri Benkahla is not a terrorist... Thus, applying the terrorism enhancement to make Benkahla‘s sentence eighty months longer than the maximum sentence for a non-terrorism-related obstruction of justice conviction violates principles of fundamental fairness and sharply contradicts the intent of the Guidelines, which were designed to promote uniformity and proportionality in sentencing” and upheld in the District court's statement:

“Sabri Benkahla is not a terrorist. He does not have the same characteristics of a terrorist, and share the same characteristics or the conduct of a terrorist and in turn does not share the same likelihood of recidivism, the difficulty of rehabilitation, or the need of incapacitation…Defendant has not committed any other criminal acts and there is no reason to believe he would ever commit another crime after his release from his imprisonment. Defendant has engaged in model citizenry, receiving a Master’s Degree from Johns Hopkins University , volunteering as a national elections officer in local, state, and national elections. It is clear that, in the case of the instant defendant, his likelihood of ever committing another crime is infinitesimal…In fact the court received more letters on Sabri’s behalf than any other defendant in twenty five years, all attesting to his honor, integrity, moral character, opposition to extremism, and devotion to civic duty.”

Prison Conditions

Benkahla is in an isolation unit even though he has been classified as a minimum security prisoner. In June 2010 the American Civil Liberties Union (WP) and their Wikipedia:Indiana branch filed a complaint challenging his confinement in (CMU) Terre Haute. The conditions he is suffering are:

• No contact visits: cannot even hug son
• Limited visits: Prisoners in CMU only allowed 2 visits each month of 2 hours each
• Limited phone calls: “only one 215 minute non-legal call pew week to a single line”
• Segregation: no contact with non CMU prisoners etc.

See Also

• In limine