FEDERAL TERRORISM DEFENSE IN MASSACHUSETTS

The SRIS Law Group federal defense lawyers defend individuals and entities facing terrorism investigations and related criminal acts in the State of Massachusetts.  If you have been contacted by the FBI or any other agency that is part of the Anti-Terrorism Task Force, regarding “voluntary” interviews to contact an attorney immediately.

The following are some of the terms and federal laws regarding terrorism:

Personnel

A person may be prosecuted under § 2339B for providing “personnel” to a designated foreign terrorist organization if and only if that person has knowingly provided the organization with one or more individuals to work under the foreign entity’s direction or control. Individuals who act independently of the designated foreign terrorist organization to advance its goals and objectives are not working under its direction or control and may not be prosecuted for providing “personnel” to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Only individuals who have subordinated themselves to the foreign terrorist organization, i.e., those acting as full-time or part-time employees or otherwise taking orders from the entity, are under its direction or control.

Training

A person may be prosecuted under § 2339B for providing “training” to a designated foreign terrorist organization if and only if that person has knowingly provided instruction to the organization designed to impart one or more specific skills. This policy also applies to attempts and conspiracies, i.e., a person may be prosecuted under § 2339B for attempting or conspiring to provide training to a designated foreign terrorist organization if and only if that person has knowingly attempted or conspired to provide instruction to the organization designed to impart one or more specific skills.

1) the term ”international terrorism” means activities that -

(A) involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State;

(B) appear to be intended – (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

(C) occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum;

(2) the term ”national of the United States” has the meaning given such term in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act;

(3) the term ”person” means any individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property;

(4) the term ”act of war” means any act occurring in the course of – (A) declared war;

(B) armed conflict, whether or not war has been declared, between two or more nations; or

(C) armed conflict between military forces of any origin; and

(5) the term ”domestic terrorism” means activities that – (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;

(B) appear to be intended – (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

Penalties:

(a) Homicide. – Whoever kills a national of the United States, while such national is outside the United States, shall – (1) if the killing is murder (as defined in section 1111(a)), be fined under this title, punished by death or imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or both;

(2) if the killing is a voluntary manslaughter as defined in section 1112(a) of this title, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and

(3) if the killing is an involuntary manslaughter as defined in section 1112(a) of this title, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

(b) Attempt or Conspiracy With Respect to Homicide. – Whoever outside the United States attempts to kill, or engages in a conspiracy to kill, a national of the United States shall – (1) in the case of an attempt to commit a killing that is a murder as defined in this chapter, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both; and

(2) in the case of a conspiracy by two or more persons to commit a killing that is a murder as defined in section 1111(a) of this title, if one or more of such persons do any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy, be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both so fined and so imprisoned.

(c) Other Conduct. – Whoever outside the United States engages in physical violence – (1) with intent to cause serious bodily injury to a national of the United States; or

(2) with the result that serious bodily injury is caused to a national of the United States; shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

(d) Limitation on Prosecution. – No prosecution for any offense described in this section shall be undertaken by the United States except on written certification of the Attorney General or the highest ranking subordinate of the Attorney General with responsibility for criminal prosecutions that, in the judgment of the certifying official, such offense was intended to coerce, intimidate, or retaliate against a government or a civilian population.

Section 212(a)(3)(B) of the INA defines “terrorist activity” to mean: “any activity which is unlawful under the laws of the place where it is committed (or which, if committed in the United States, would be unlawful under the laws of the United States or any State) and which involves any of the following:

(I) The highjacking or sabotage of any conveyance (including an aircraft, vessel, or vehicle).

(II) The seizing or detaining, and threatening to kill, injure, or continue to detain, another individual in order to compel a third person (including a governmental organization) to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the individual seized or detained.

(III) A violent attack upon an internationally protected person (as defined in section 1116(b)(4) of title 18, United States Code) or upon the liberty of such a person.

(IV) An assassination.

(V) The use of any–

(a) biological agent, chemical agent, or nuclear weapon or device, or

(b) explosive, firearm, or other weapon or dangerous device (other than for mere personal monetary gain), with intent to endanger, directly or indirectly, the safety of one or more individuals or to cause substantial damage to property.

(VI) A threat, attempt, or conspiracy to do any of the foregoing.”

Other pertinent portions of section 212(a)(3)(B) are set forth below:

(iv) Engage in Terrorist Activity Defined

As used in this chapter [chapter 8 of the INA], the term ‘engage in terrorist activity’ means in an individual capacity or as a member of an organization–

to commit or to incite to commit, under circumstances indicating an intention to cause death or serious bodily injury, a terrorist activity;

to prepare or plan a terrorist activity;

to gather information on potential targets for terrorist activity;

to solicit funds or other things of value for–

(aa) a terrorist activity;

(bb) a terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(I) or (vi)(II); or

(cc) a terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(III), unless the solicitor can demonstrate that he did not know, and should not reasonably have known, that the solicitation would further the organization’s terrorist activity;

II. to solicit any individual–

(aa) to engage in conduce otherwise described in this clause;

(bb) for membership in terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(I) or (vi)(II); or

(cc) for membership in a terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(III), unless the solicitor can demonstrate that he did not know, and should not reasonably have known, that the solicitation would further the organization’s terrorist activity; or

III. to commit an act that the actor knows, or reasonably should know, affords material support, including a safe house, transportation, communications, funds, transfer of funds or other material financial benefit, false documentation or identification, weapons (including chemical, biological, or radiological weapons), explosives, or training–

(aa) for the commission of a terrorist activity; (bb) to any individual who the actor knows, or reasonably should know, has committed or plans to commit a terrorist activity;

(cc) to a terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(I) or (vi)(II); or

(dd) to a terrorist organization described in clause (vi)(III), unless the actor can demonstrate that he did not know, and should not reasonably have known, that the act would further the organization’s terrorist activity.

This clause shall not apply to any material support the alien afforded to an organization or individual that has committed terrorist activity, if the Secretary of State, after consultation with the Attorney General, or the Attorney General, after consultation with the Secretary of State, concludes in his sole unreviewable discretion, that that this clause should not apply.”

“(v) Representative Defined

As used in this paragraph, the term ‘representative’ includes an officer, official, or spokesman of an organization, and any person who directs, counsels, commands, or induces an organization or its members to engage in terrorist activity.

i. Terrorist Organization Defined

As used in clause (i)(VI) and clause (iv), the term ‘terrorist organization’ means an organization–

I. designated under section 219 [8 U.S.C. § 1189];

II. otherwise designated, upon publication in the Federal Register, by the Secretary of State in consultation with or upon the request of the Attorney General, as a terrorist organization, after finding that the organization engages in the activities described in subclause (I), (II), or (III) of clause (iv), or that the organization provides material support to further terrorist activity; or

III. that is a group of two or more individuals, whether organized or not, which engages in the activities described in subclause (I), (II), or (III) of clause (iv).

** Section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 defines “terrorism” as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.”

Current List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations

• Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)
• Abu Sayyaf Group
• Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
• Ansar al-Islam
• Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
• Asbat al-Ansar
• Aum Shinrikyo
• Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
• Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA)
• Continuity Irish Republican Army
• Gama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group)
• HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement)
• Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM)
• Hizballah (Party of God)
• Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
• Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) (Army of Mohammed)
• Jama’at al-Tawhid wa’al-Jihad
• Jemaah Islamiya organization (JI)
• al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad)
• Kahane Chai (Kach)
• Kongra-Gel (KGK, formerly Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, KADEK)
• Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LT) (Army of the Righteous)
• Lashkar i Jhangvi
• Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
• Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK)
• National Liberation Army (ELN)
• Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
• Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
• PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC)
• al-Qa’ida
• Real IRA
• Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
• Revolutionary Nuclei (formerly ELA)
• Revolutionary Organization 17 November
• Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army/Front (DHKP/C)
• Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC)
• Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, SL)
• United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)