Biography
Connected to the Virginia jihad network, a group of men who played paintball as a means to train for combat under the guidance of controversial imam Ali al-Timimi, Sabri Benkahla lied to authorities about training with militants in Pakistan, made other false statements, and obstructed justice in the Virginia jihad trial. Benkahla was acquitted at trial of fighting for the Taliban, and after his acquittal, federal prosecutors filed perjury charges, for which he was convicted.
Case characteristics: FBI confidential informant, FISA surveillance. Organization referenced in charging documents: Taliban.
Case data and description from The Intercept's Trial and Terror project (Trevor Aaronson and Margot Williams), licensed CC BY-NC. Source: https://github.com/theintercept/trial-and-terror-data
On July 8, 2010, Judge James C. Cacheris denied Benkahla’s motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 and denied a certificate of appealability. The ruling distinguishes the 2004 acquittal from the later prosecution concerning immunized grand-jury testimony: a 2007 jury convicted him of perjury, obstruction and false statements. His imposed term was 121 months; the 210–270 month advisory range was not the sentence or time served. The court rejected the ineffective-assistance and disclosure claims presented in this collateral proceeding. Source: https://www.fjc.gov/sites/default/files/2014/TRVAE049.pdf#page=1
Benkahla’s March 9, 2004 acquittal preceded the separate perjury prosecution and February 5, 2007 jury verdict.
The documented case chronology records custody endpoint May 5, 2016. This is the actual administrative end of the Bureau of Prisons term. Its last listed unit was a residential reentry management office; that record does not establish when physical prison ended. An exact physical-imprisonment total is therefore not stated.
