United States v. Mirza (S.D. Tex. Oct. 22, 2010)

* United States v. Mirza (S.D. Tex. Oct. 22, 2010) (15 year sentence following jury conviction for unlawful firearm possession and conspiracy to provide material support to the Taliban)

HOUSTON – A Pakistani national who entered the United States on a student visa has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole for unlawfully possessing firearms and conspiring to provide material support to the Taliban, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas José Angel Moreno and FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard C. Powers announced today.

Adnan Mirza, 33, convicted in May 2010 following a jury trial of all nine counts charged, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein to a total of 180 months in prison without parole. Mirza has also been fined $1,000 for each of the nine counts of conviction for a total of $9,000.

As a foreign national who had entered the United States on a student visa to attend a local community college in 2005 and 2006, Mirza is not permitted by federal law to possess firearms while in the United States. An FBI undercover investigation resulted in proof that Mirza and others intended to send funds to the Taliban and had engaged in weekend camping/training and practice sessions with firearms to prepare for “jihad” on six different occasions beginning in May 2006 at a location on the north side of Houston. …

By Robert M. Chesney

Robert M. Chesney is Charles I. Francis Professor in Law at UT-Austin School of Law. Chesney is a national security law specialist, with a particular interest in problems associated with terrorism. Professor Chesney recently served in the Justice Department in connection with the Detainee Policy Task Force created by Executive Order 13493. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, a senior editor for the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, an associate member of the Intelligence Science Board, a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the American Law Institute. Professor Chesney has published extensively on topics ranging from detention and prosecution in the counterterrorism context to the states secrets privilege. He served previously as chair of the Section on National Security Law of the Association of American Law Schools and as editor of the National Security Law Report (published by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security). His upcoming projects include two books under contract with Oxford University Press, one concerning the evolution of detention law and policy and the other examining the judicial role in national security affairs.

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