Georgia Tech Student Syed Haris Ahmed Terror Trial

(Atlanta, Georgia) College student Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, has admitted that he wanted to be a terrorist.

The former Georgia Tech student contemplated an attack on Dobbins Air Reserve Base, but didn’t carry it out. He traveled to Pakistan hoping to die a martyr fighting alongside brother jihadists -- but changed his mind and returned home.

He took almost laughably bad “casing videos” of Washington landmarks, taping surreptitiously through his pickup truck window in a city where tourists overtly take pictures of everything.

Was he all talk? Or was he, as federal prosecutors suspect, a time bomb that simply hadn’t gone off yet?

We'll know the answers soon. Ahmed's trial is in progress this week. No jury is present since Ahmed waived his right to a jury trial largely because he wants to give a public statement at the close.

Ahmed is charged with Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, of Roswell, of trying to join Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani-based terrorist group. They also are accused of taking videos for “potential terrorist attacks” during a 2005 trip to Washington. Sadequee is to be tried separately in August. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

The trial of Ahmed started Monday and thus far the defense has attempted to portray him as immature, confused and gullible to propaganda. On the other hand, federal prosecutors have introduced evidence of video tapes, phone taps and the testimony of a former jihadi friend, 30-year-old Zubair Ahmed, who was convicted of terrorism charges previously. According to testimony:

Syed Haris Ahmed first talked about waging violent jihad against Muslim oppressors as far back as 2002. “We shared the same opinion,” Zubair Ahmed said.

Over the years, the two men continued to chat online about taking the “three steps” toward jihad —- ideological preparation, logistical preparation and actual fighting, Zubair Ahmed said.

In 2004, Zubair Ahmed testified, he went to Egypt with the purpose of going to Afghanistan to fight. But his concerned father came to Egypt and made him return home.

In one e-mail, Zubair Ahmed told Syed Haris Ahmed that “the biggest problem everyone will face for the 3rd [the final step] is our stupid parents.” But during a subsequent chat-room conversation, Zubair Ahmed testified, Syed Haris Ahmed told him he had received his mother’s permission to return to Pakistan and engage in jihad.

It must be acceptable if his mother approved, eh? The trial continues. (h/t Blackflag via Sandcrawler)

Companion post at The Jawa Report.