College Park resident Ali Asad Chandia was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday morning, after being convicted on three counts of providing material support to a Pakistani terrorist organization.
Chandia, a university alumnus, is the 11th convicted member of the “Virginia jihad network,” an alleged terrorism group conspiring to carry out terrorism-related acts.
Chandia, 29, met with the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a U.S.-deemed terrorist group fighting India’s government, while on a three-month trip to Pakistan in 2001 to 2002, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney’s office.
After the trip, prosecutors said Chandia housed the leader on several occasions and allowed him to purchase materials such as unmanned aerial vehicles, night-vision equipment and wireless video cameras from Chandia’s home computer.
“Terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba rely on a network of individuals to carry out their deadly operations,” U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said in a statement. “Ali Asad Chandia was a member of that network for Lashkar-e-Taiba, and he will now spend a very long period of time in prison for providing material support in furtherance of its violent agenda.”
Despite Chandia’s involvement, his attorney, Marvin D. Miller, said the sentence was “more harsh than it should be” and claimed the court made legal errors.
Compiled by reporter Steven Overly.
