US v. Abu-Jihaad, No. 09-1375

Conviction for Communicating National Defense Information Affirmed

In US v. Abu-Jihaad, No. 09-1375, the court affirmed defendant's conviction for communicating national defense information respecting the movements of a United States Navy battlegroup to unauthorized persons, holding that 1) there were no constitutional defects in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's (FISA) certification requirement of "a significant" rather than a primary "purpose...to obtain foreign intelligence information"; 2) no denial of due process in the district court's decision not to order disclosure of FISA materials to the defendant, or to conduct a preliminary hearing to rule on defendant's challenge to FISA's implementation in this case; and 3) the record convincingly satisfied FISA's purpose and probable cause requirements.

As the court wrote:  "United States citizen Hassan Abu-Jihaad, whose birth name is Paul Raphael Hall, appeals from a judgment of conviction entered in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Mark R. Kravitz, Judge) on April 3, 2009, after a jury found him guilty of having communicated national defense information, specifically, the anticipated movements of a United States Navy battlegroup being deployed to the Persian Gulf, to Jihad has been defined as "a religious war of Muslims against 1 unbelievers in Islam,
inculcated as a duty by the Koran and traditions."

Related Resources

• Read the Second Circuit's Decision in US v. Abu-Jihaad, No. 09-1375