US Court clears Dr Ali Tamimi of all Charges

Washington DC — The District Court For The Eastern District Of Virginia has now formally entered a judgment of acquittal on all counts in the case of Dr Ali al-Timimi. With all ten counts of the original indictment having been vacated, Dr al-Timimi is now exonerated with no convictions to his name. This brings to an end this flagship “War on Terror” case, and more than two decades of injustice. 

This follows on from January this year, when the Court of Appeals overturned the convictions against Dr Ali al-Timimi. At the time, the US government was given an opportunity to seek a rehearing of the decision, which they have chosen not to appeal. 

In the political climate that followed 9/11, expansive security laws, aggressive prosecutions and a deeply politicised judiciary combined to criminalise speech, association and dissent. More than twenty years of Dr al-Timimi’s life were taken through a prosecution that should never have happened. His imprisonment separated him from his family, halted his career and robbed him of decades that can never be returned.

Anas Mustapha, Head of Public Advocacy at CAGE International, said: 

“This acquittal does not erase that injustice. No one responsible for the prosecution that destroyed those years has been held accountable, and the legal frameworks that enabled it remain firmly in place. Until the architecture of the “War on Terror” - its laws, prosecutions and political logic - is dismantled, cases like Dr al-Timimi’s will continue to happen and expand further as we’ve seen.”