Al Darbi Arrested and Charged with Material Support

The Office of Military Commissions announced December 21, 2007, that charges have been sworn against Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi of Saudi Arabia.^[1] Al Darbi, is the brother-in-law of the Flight 77 hijacker Khalid al Mihdhar, Flight 77 is the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11.^[2]

It is alleged that al Darbi traveled to Jalalabad and met with Osama bin Laden, trained at al Qaeda’s Jihad Wahl training camp and later served as a weapons instructor at another al Qaeda training camp.^[3] From 2001 through 2002, is also alleged that al Darbi moved money from al Qaeda into financial institutions for expenses related to a plot to attack a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz or off the coast of Yemen.^[4]

The sworn charges are: Conspiring with others to attack civilians, to murder in violation of the law of war, to destroy property in violation of the law of war, to hazard a vessel and to commit terrorism, and Providing Material Support to Terrorism.^[5] Al Darbi was also allegedly involved in planning attacks on a vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and off the coast of Yemen.^[6]

He is accused, among other things, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism under Sections 950v(b)(28) and (25) of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA).

10 U.S.C. § 950v(b)(25) under the MCA covers the crime of providing material support for terrorism. In this statute it states that it is a crime for any person subject to this chapter [10 USCS §§ 948a et seq.] who provides material support or resources, knowing or intending that they are to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, an act of terrorism, or who intentionally provides material support or resources to an international terrorist organization engaged in hostilities against the United States, knowing that such organization has engaged or engages in terrorism (as so set forth), shall be punished as a military commission under this chapter [10 USCS §§ 948a et seq.] may direct.^[7] Material support or resources defined. In this paragraph, the term "material support or resources" has the meaning given that term in section 2339A(b) of title 18 [18 USCS § 2339A(b)].^[8]

Conspiracy is covered in the MCA under 10 U.S.C. § 950v(b)(28), wherein it states that it is a crime for any person subject to this chapter who conspires to commit one or more substantive offenses triable by military commission under this chapter and who knowingly does any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy, shall be punished, if death results to one or more of the victims, by death or such other punishment as a military commission under this chapter may direct, and, if death does not result to any of the victims, by such punishment, other than death, as a military commission under this chapter may direct.^[9]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has discussed the terrorism crime of providing support to terrorists extensively in this blog; these posts can be accessed here.

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^[1] AP Staff, US: Suspect Is Kin to 9/11 Hijacker, Associated Press Newswire, December 21, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[2] Id.
^[3] US Dept. of Defense, Guantanamo Detainee Charged, Press Release, December 21, 2007, available at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11583 (last visited December 23, 2007).
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] 10 U.S.C. § 950v(b)(25)(A)(2007).
^[8] Id. at § 950v(b)(25)(B).
^[9] Id. at § 950v(b)(28).