James Ujaama

Earnest James Ujaama (born 1966) is a convicted felon who was found guilty of supporting al-Qaeda.

Biography

Born in Denver, Colorado as James Thompson, he moved with his family to Seattle at the age of 5. He converted to Islam and changed his name to Ujaama. Washington state lawmakers declared June 10, 1994 James Ujaama Day for his community service [http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/29/ujaama.background/index.html] , Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from Senator Harry Reid, a key to the City of Las Vegas [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/ujaamastatement.asp] , was honored by KCPQ13 as a "Special Person". While traveling in England in 1999, he had meetings with Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical Muslim cleric. Ujaama also traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 to study Sharia and offer his support to al-Qaeda, according to family friends.

Ujaama was arrested in Denver on July 22, 2002 as a material witness. He was transferred to a hospital in Virginia around July 29, and held there with restricted access to family or counsel until an indictment for providing material resources to al-Qaeda was returned against him in Seattle. These charges included attempting to create a camp for training terrorists near Bly, Oregon between October and December 1999.

In April 2003, the government dropped those charges and filed a complaint accusing Ujaama of providing money, computer equipment and women to Taliban officials in Afghanistan.Fact|date=February 2007 In February of the following year, Ujaama pled guilty in a plea bargain: in return for a two year sentence, he would provide information for ongoing terrorism investigations -- especially for what he knew about al-Masri, whose Web site Ujaama once ran.

Ujaama only pleaded guilty after videos were uncovered by Glen Jenvey with Ujaama sat next to Abu Hamza talking about jihad.

Federal officials have said Ujaama's help was useful in the 2004 indictment of al-Masri on charges of trying to establish the training camp in Bly, Oregon. [http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/16476765.htm] ]

In December 2006, Ujaama was once again arrested in Belize after violating parole in the United States [ [http://new.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=17619] ] . He possessed a fake Mexican passport at the time of his apprehension.

On August 13, 2007, Ujaama pled guilty to charges of raising money for terrorism and for attempting to set up training camps. [ [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070814/ap_on_re_us/terror_camp_3 Man pleads guilty to terror camp charges] ]

References

Further reading

* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0974670170/ Book on James Ujaama]