A Virginia man pleaded guilty on charges he helped produce an Internet video for a Pakistani terrorist group.
Jubair Ahmad, 24, of Woodbridge, Va., has been jailed since his September arrest. At a plea hearing in federal court in Alexandria Friday, he admitted making the video promoting jihad on behalf of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization since 2001. Lashkar has been linked to numerous terrorist attacks, including the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 160 people.
"They are a deadly, dangerous terrorist organization, and this defendant proudly volunteered to make a video" glorifying their efforts, U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a press conference following Ahmad's guilty plea.
Prosecutors said Ahmad produced and uploaded a propaganda video to YouTube last year.
Ahmad acknowledged during the plea hearing that he made the video at the request of Talha Saeed, the son of Lashkar's leader, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
The video showed the group's leader and claimed to show "jihadi martyrs" and armored trucks exploding from improvised explosive devices, according to court documents.
At Talha Saeed's instruction, Ahmad began the video with pictures of Hafiz Saeed, followed by graphic depictions of atrocities committed against Muslims. The video concluded with depictions of mujahideen fighters in Kashmir.
Ahmad later revised the video and reposted it, the Associated Press reported. Jubair denied involvement with the video when questioned, investigators said.
Court documents show that Ahmad, who came to the U.S. from Pakistan at age 19, was the subject of a two-year FBI investigation. An affidavit states he received training from Lashkar while living in Pakistan.
As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Ahmad pleaded guilty to a single count of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Prosecutors are not pursuing an initial charge of making false statements that was filed when Ahmad was first arrested.
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