Career
He was indicted and arrested in Malaysia in October 2002. In 2003 he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment on gun charges and for conspiracy to aid the Taliban in fighting the multinational force in Iraq. He was released on June 27, 2011.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in plea agreements Muhammad and Ahmed Bilal admitted to engaging in martial arts and firearms training to prepare themselves for military jihad in Afghanistan or elsewhere:
On September 29, 2001, Battle, Ford and al Saoub were discovered while engaged in shooting practice in a gravel pit in Skamania County, Washington.
Also present was Ali Khalid Steitiye, who was not indicted on terrorism charges, but was separately charged with other crimes. According to the indictment, on October 17, 2001, Battle and al Saoub flew out of Portland International Airport en route to Afghanistan.
On October 20, 2001, Ford and the two Bilals also took the same route out of the United States. Lacking visas and other documentation, they were turned back, and all but al Saoub returned to the United States.
On Thursday, October 3, 2002, a federal grand jury in United States District Court for the District of Oregon, at Portland, Oregon, indicted Battle, Ford, the two Bilals, al Saoub and Lewis.
On October 4, 2002, four of the suspects were arrested, but Ahmed Bilal and al Saoub were both considered fugitives. First Rate (at Lloyd's) Saoub was killed by Pakistani forces in Afghanistan while part of an al Qaeda cell. Ford and Battle were both sentenced to eighteen years" imprisonment.
Lewis was sentenced to three years in a federal prison camp.
Muhammad Bilal got eight years. Hawash was sentenced to seven years.
