A federal judge is considering the case against three members of an alleged Virginia jihad network after prosecutors and defense lawyers clashed yesterday over whether two of the men attended a camp in Pakistan to train for terrorism or to climb mountains and get in shape. In closing arguments in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, prosecutors said the three men — Seifullah Chapman, Masoud Ahmad Khan and Hammad Abdur-Raheem — played paintball in the Virginia countryside to prepare for combat overseas. Chapman and Khan are also accused of attending the camp in Pakistan run by Lashkar-i-Taiba, a group trying to drive India from the disputed region of Kashmir. The U.S. government has labeled the group a terrorist organization. “Islam is not on trial in this courtroom,” Justice Department Trial Attorney John Gibbs told a courtroom packed with supporters of the three men. “Paintball is not on trial in this courtroom. . . . What we have on trial is three defendants who violated the laws of the United States.” He added that the Lashkar camp was a terrorist training camp — “not Outward Bound.” Full Story
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