US 'Taleban' sentenced in Seattle

Ujaama ran a website advocating jihad, or holy war

A US Muslim convert who pleaded guilty to aiding the Taleban regime in Afghanistan has been sentenced to two years in prison by a court in Seattle.

James Ujaama, 38, was arrested in 2002 in Denver and indicted on two charges, including that of conspiring to set up a terrorist training camp in the US.

Under the plea deal last year, the charges were dropped in exchange for his co-operation in terror inquiries.

Prosecutors let Ujaama plead guilty to a single charge of helping the Taleban.

They filed a complaint alleging that he brought money, computer equipment and a recruit to Taleban officials in Afghanistan.

Ujaama is now expected to leave prison this summer as he has already served most of his sentence.

However, he faces three years of supervised release and must surrender his passport.

London connection

"In the future, I will act more responsibly and make the right choices," Ujaama told US District Judge Barbara Rothstein after the verdict was announced.

Abu Hamza fought in Afghanistan

Ujaama was born James Thompson in Denver but later moved to Seattle.

He converted to Islam in the early 1990s and was one of the founders of the now-closed Dar-us-Salaam mosque in Seattle, whose members preached a more extreme version of Islamic teachings.

In about 1997, he spent some time in London, where he eventually became friends with a controversial Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri at the Finsbury Park Mosque.

US prosecutors were especially keen to know what Ujaama knew about the north London cleric.

US intelligence has long believed that Mr Abu Hamza, who once praised the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York, is a key member of an al-Qaeda recruiting network in Europe.

Mr Abu Hamza denies any involvement in terrorism.