WASHINGTON, April 27: A local Muslim scholar has been convicted of encouraging his followers to join Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and to do jihad against the United States. Ali Tamimi, 41, of Fairfax County faces a mandatory life imprisonment for preaching jihad soon after the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

The jury in the US District Court in Alexandria decided that Mr Tamimi’s words were enough to send him to prison for life.

Mr Tamimi, who was born and raised in the Washington area, was convicted of inspiring a group of his Northern Virginia followers to attend terrorist training camps abroad and to prepare to battle American troops. He was found guilty of all 10 charges against him, including soliciting others to levy war against the United States and contributing services to Afghanistan’s former Taliban rulers.

The prosecution based its case on a meeting Mr Tamimi addressed in Fairfax five days after the 9/11 attacks where he allegedly told his followers that “the time has come for them to go abroad and join the Mujahideen engaged in jihad in Afghanistan.”

The prosecution claimed that many of his followers practised for jihad by playing paintball in the Virginia countryside while some others trained with Lashkar-i-Tayyaba.

Eleven of his followers were charged with responding to his call. Nine were convicted or pleaded guilty. Two of them were sentenced to life and one for 20 years. Two were cleared.