US teacher convicted for aiding LeT

McLean (Virginia): A third-grade teacher was found guilty of lending aid to a Pakistani terrorist organisation, becoming the eleventh conviction in what the government called a "Virginia jihad network".

Ali Asad Chandia, 29, a teacher at an Islamic school in College Park, Maryland, was convicted Tuesday on three of four counts, including providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation and conspiracy to do the same.

He faces a maximum of 45 years in prison when he is sentenced on August 18.

The government had accused Chandia of traveling to Pakistan in the months after the September 11 attacks and receiving military training from Lashkar-e-Toiba, which is fighting for Muslim control over Kashmir.

The US government designated Lashkar a foreign terrorist organisation in December 2001.

Upon Chandia's return to the US in January 2002, the government alleged, he served as a chauffeur to a top Lashkar official, Mohammed Ajmal Khan and helped him ship military training equipment from US to Pakistan, including a remote-controlled aircraft and 50,000 paintballs.

Chandia's lawyer argued that his client went to Pakistan to help plan his brother's wedding and that Chandia did not know about Khan's terrorist links.

Khan was convicted in Britain of supporting Lashkar and sentenced this year to nine years in prison.

Chandia was a disciple of Ali al-Timimi, a US-born Islamic scholar in Fairfax who the government said enjoyed "rock star status" among his followers.

Many of al-Timimi's followers played paintball games in the woods near Fredericksburg in 2000 and 2001 as a means of military training, but it is agreed that Chandia did not participate in paintball.

Chandia attended a post-September 11 meeting in which al-Timimi warned his followers that the attacks were a harbinger of an apocalyptic battle between Muslims and nonbelievers and that they were obligated to defend the Taliban against a looming US invasion, according to court testimony.

Four people who attended that meeting, including Chandia, left for Pakistan in the following weeks and months.

Al-Timimi is serving a life sentence for soliciting treason and urging group members to fight US troops in Afghanistan.

Chandia's lawyer, Marvin Miller, could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

The government has obtained 11 convictions in its prosecution of the Virginia jihad group.

Two others were acquitted.