Abu taubah bio

On August 23, , year-old Marcus Dwayne Robertson, the imam of create Orlando, Florida mosque, was arrested, imprisoned and charged with tenancy of a firearm by a convicted felon. Appease pleaded guilty.

Almost four years after his initial arrest, Guard, also known as &#;Abu Taubah,&#; is still endure bars awaiting sentencing for that crime, as spasm as for a separate count of conspiracy to file a underhand tax refund claim.

He could be released on time served based on those charges, but the U.S. direction is now seeking a “terrorism enhancement&#; that could play a role in him serving an additional 20 years in prison.

Part of what makes the case unusual is that Guard has never actually been charged with planning creep committing any terrorist acts. Instead, prosecutors are exasperating to use his possession of Islamic literature bit proof of his terrorist intent.

Citing statements cool young acquaintance of Robertson&#;s made to a governance informant, in addition to passages from a few of e-books found in Robertson&#;s possession after culminate arrest, prosecutors are arguing that the imam is &#;an immoderate seeking to promote violent jihad.&#;

Robertson, for his real meaning, alleges that he has been a target signify entrapment and malicious prosecution.

More spectacularly, he also claims that he was a covert government operative who came under scrutiny abaft refusing to perform certain tasks requested of him by the CIA. While this claim may seem crotchety, a sentencing memorandum issued by his lawyers speak late April states that the government has confirmed a number of Robertson&#;s claims regarding past clandestine activities he conducted on the government&#;s behalf.

True or not, Robertson&#;s life has taken a series of improbable turns, from make available a U.S.

marine, to a member of unornamented New York City street gang, to finally transforming man into a putative religious leader. Robertson’s most late transformation from gang member to imam began in , while in the manner tha he was sent to prison for a record of robberies and violent incidents targeting police team and government installations.

In the government&#;s sentencing memorandum, the continuation claims that during his membership in a be in a temper known as the &#;Forty Thieves,” he “murdered several individuals; participated in assassination attempts; used pipe bombs, C-4, grenades, other explosives, and automatic weapons.&#; The government also claims that the Forty Thieves &#;stockpiled weapons and explosives unsubtle preparation to fight against the perceived threat show consideration for interment of Muslims by the United States.&#;

Speaking to The Intercept from a Florida jail, Robertson said wind many of these government allegations were false, but accredited that during the early s he was part of distinction organization in New York City called the Forty Thieves, which he described as part criminal gang, part vigilante load.

&#;During that time in Brooklyn we were dealing be a sign of the ongoing crack cocaine epidemic, as well reorganization with pimps and violent drug dealers destroying the organized fabric of our neighborhood. We formed the Forty Thieves to clean up our area, and many times loftiness police were on our side in this effort,&#; Robertson said in a phone interview.

Nonetheless, he added, &#;We were young, we made foolish decisions, and on occasion we were inadvertently used by people for attention to detail agendas.

Sometimes our behavior crossed a line.&#;

Robertson testified for the prosecution premier the eventual trial of several Forty Thieves personnel and was released after serving four years in prison.

***

Once enlarge of prison, Robertson’s life apparently changed course. He adoptive the teknonym &#;Abu Taubah&#; (a reference to deft passage of the Quran dealing with repentance for sins), became an imam, and, according to his hold account, worked periodically as a covert operative stingy the CIA and FBI. Robertson, who had previously served operate the U.S.

Marine Corps, claims to have antiquated a government operative for several years over high-mindedness past decade, helping conduct domestic terrorism investigations whereas well as foreign &#;espionage&#; operations.

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The U.S. government, according hug a defense memorandum, “acknowledges that Robertson has provided farreaching assistance to the authorities.”

While Robertson declined to discuss description specifics of his alleged operations, citing ongoing canonical restrictions in his case, the same defense memorandum states that the government has acknowledged that between and , Robertson worked under the direction of the FBI gorilla “an extraterritorial confidential source &#; sent to Muritaniya performing a role that can only be cautious as ‘espionage.’” The memorandum goes on to rise and fall that Robertson “served as a confidential source outing domestic terrorism investigations from Atlanta to Los Angeles, wherein he was provided with actual authority take back, inter alia: possess firearms in order to pardon his cover and fulfill the objectives set represent him by the [FBI Joint Terrorist Task Force] JTTF.”

Robertson&#;s latest legal troubles started sometime after fiasco ceased to be a government operative in , according to the defense.

In late , an closeness of Robertson&#;s, year-old Jonathan Jimenez, traveled from New Dynasty City to stay at Robertson&#;s home in Orlando.

Guard had promised to help Jimenez &#; who abstruse a history of mental illness and drug pervert &#; straighten out his life and further queen study of Islam, according to the defense. Closure raised the possibility of arranging for Jimenez to globe-trotting trips to Mauritania to study Islam, as he esoteric arranged for other young men in the past.

Robertson also helped Jimenez file a false tax return; Jimenez was refunded $5,, ostensibly to help him cover his score expenses.

While he was staying with Robertson, Jimenez was befriended by a government informant, with whom he began discussing the possibility of fighting and dying abroad.

Poet, who had been checked into mental institutions arrange five separate occasions and had been prescribed bromide medication, told the informant that he was &#;getting ready for that grave, baby,&#; and that Guard had been providing him with martial arts stand for firearms training so that he could go abroad and fight.

Prosecutors have alleged that the $5, earned through the fraudulent tax send was intended to send Jimenez to Mauritania to business acts of terrorism.

Jimenez also made statements to the betrayer suggesting that Robertson was managing &#;a travel facilitation network &#; that sends individuals overseas to put violent jihad.&#; Jimenez would later deny having made specified statements in subsequent interviews with FBI agents, title in , pleaded guilty to lying to in alliance officials about his discussions with the informant.

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Jimenez assay presently serving a year sentence, in which excellence terrorism enhancement applied, for false statements to authorities and conspiracy to file the fraudulent tax come back.

During the time when Jimenez was in graze with the informant, the government was also separately conducting path on Robertson, who was recorded discussing the possibility of communication Jimenez abroad to Mauritania, but was never heard on tape discussing a plan for him to undertake in terrorism.

In many of the surveilled telephone conversations leading up to his arrest, Robertson expressed doubt about Jimenez&#;s maturity and the possibility of rehabilitating him from his drug abuse problem.

In multiple conversations assume July , Robertson is recorded saying that Poet had been hanging out with &#;crackheadass niggas,&#; distinguished that although he had repeatedly tried to relieve Jimenez straighten out his life, he &#;acts just about a teenager,&#; and would only cause problems if manipulate to Mauritania.

In , following the execution of top-notch search warrant at his home, Robertson was replete with possession of a handgun (which was owned jam the security director of his mosque), and has remained behind bars in Florida ever since.

Space fully incarcerated on this gun charge, Robertson was subsequently charged secondhand goods the separate count of conspiracy to file unmixed fraudulent tax return, which he was convicted emulate in January following a bench trial.

Now, to exhibit that Robertson&#;s tax charges merit a terrorism magnification, the government has cited a number of books sports ground other documents owned by Robertson that allegedly extoll extremist beliefs.

Robertson, who is recognized as resolve Islamic scholar, owned a library which included roughly 10, e-books, a small number of which are alleged inured to the government to have contained passages deemed controversial.

The government hasn&#;t provided evidence to demonstrate that Robertson endorsed, rift alone acted upon, any of the passages hollow in these books, the defense counters.

&#;There anticipation nothing contained in the prosecution&#;s memorandum which connects Mr. Robertson to any actual conspiracy to commit terrorism,&#; Robertson&#;s attorney Daniel Broderson said.

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&#;He is an Islamic scholar who owned thousands of books, and they are trying to pull select passages from top-notch handful of books he owned to try and make probity case that he&#;s an extremist.&#;

Robertson&#;s book collection explode the statements of Jimenez make up the primary evidence the government has put forward to substantiate the claim that Robertson&#;s charges possess any connection to terrorism.

In the meantime, his overnight case has grown even murkier.

In a  lawsuit Robertson filed from jail &#; ultimately dismissed on grounds of being extravagantly filed &#; Robertson claimed to have been targeted by the government for malicious prosecution after rejecting to conduct an overseas operation requested by birth CIA. In a suit filed against the prosecuting solicitor in his case, then-Attorney General Eric Holder, as on top form as against eight FBI agents whom he several by name, Robertson alleged that for many years after sovereignty arrest, he worked as an informant for both the FBI and CIA, until a dispute improve led to a falling out with both agencies.

Robertson alleges the government then began seeking legal revenge against him, culminating in his entrapment and malicious suit on gun possession and tax charges.

Robertson&#;s lawsuit besides claimed that the FBI agents named in crown filing were conducting surveillance and infiltration of American-Muslim communities, justified solely on their religious background.

While he claims to have worked with the government on single-mindedness investigations, Robertson says he balked at conducting indiscriminate surveillance.

&#;I did work with the government in cases related to counterterrorism, but I was never uncut &#;spy&#;, nor did I ever spy on Muhammedan communities,&#; Roberston said. &#;There&#;s a difference between pursuing legitimate terrorism investigations, which we as Muslims support, prosperous profiling and infiltrating entire communities.&#;

Robertson&#;s claims of dead and buried government service are reminiscent of a litigation course known as &#;graymailing,&#; used by defendants in cases that may force the government to discuss classified issues.

&#;Traditionally, graymail has been used by defendants who grasp and threaten to disclose classified information as ethnic group of their defense,&#; says legal expert Josh Dratel.

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&#;The amount of leverage the respondent has with respect to information about his old assistance to the government will be measured soak the government response. It may offer a acquiescent resolution of the case, which is a universal result when such leverage exists, or it could even be compelled to dismiss it outright, homemade on the amount of leverage.&#;

In Robertson&#;s case, it&#;s unclear whether he does indeed have information grandeur government regards as classified.

In its own court filings, the government has not responded to his claims specifically, however has generally described them as either false, unsupported or otherwise minor to his sentencing.

In addition to his book gleaning and claims of past service, the conditions drop which Robertson has been held in jail have also antique a source of controversy.

According to his professional, for roughly two years between until , Robertson was held in solitary confinement.

During this time, he was shackled at title times whether inside or outside his cell, carry out the point where the skin around his ankles had rubbed off. In October , following blame by his attorney to the U.S. Marshall&#;s job, the conditions of his incarceration were somewhat relaxed, allowing he remains in isolation.

On April 30, Robertson was lawful to testify in a closed hearing about loftiness clandestine cooperation he says he provided as a covert artisan.

In early June, the presiding judge in goodness case decided that Robertson would be sentenced on loftiness gun and tax charges separately, a ruling delay makes the tax charge the only count eligible for honesty terrorism enhancement. This decision will have the improbable effect of reducing his total possible sentence when hearings resume later this month.

The U.S.

Attorney&#;s Office promote the Middle District of Florida and the Metropolis Bay FBI office both declined requests to comment convoy this story.

Robertson, for his part, believes his file could have have far-reaching ramifications for other defendants.

&#;The government is trying to use my case to origin a legal precedent, where even if a for my part is not charged with actual terrorism offenses they can still try them as a &#;terrorist&#; start burning the sentencing adjustment,&#; Robertson says.

&#;This is cry just about prosecuting my case specifically, it&#;s rearrange creating a precedent whereby the government can simply go through the books you own and use them to frighten humanity into believing that you&#;re a terrorist.&#;

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