A long-term resident of Seattle and well-known community activist,[3] Ujaama was arrested under terrorism charges in July 2002, the first American to be detained on US soil while under investigation using the Patriot Act.
[4] Amid conflicting reports and media coverage of the extent of his involvement in terrorist networks, he was convicted three times of various offences, in 2003, 2007, and 2015.
[1] He wrote the motivational book The Young People's Guide to Starting a Business Without Selling Drugs and the semi-autobiographical novel Coming Up, which were well received.
[4] Moving between London and Seattle, Ujaama eventually started selling tapes of el-Faisal's sermons, but kept the proceeds.
[4] That October, he traveled to the ranch, where he carried out firearm practice; he sent a fax to Abu Hamza al-Masri to promote this idea, but he greatly exaggerated his progress.
[12] (They arrived in New York City on an Air India flight on November 26, 1999; afterwards, they took a Greyhound bus to Seattle, and were then driven by Ujaama to Bly.
[4][12] From 2000 to 2001, Ujaama (under the alias Bilal Ahmed) operated the Supporters of Shariah website, which was used to advocate for "violent jihad".
[11][12] On July 22 2002,[13] Ujaama was arrested in Denver under a material witness warrant, becoming the first American to be detained on US soil while under investigation using the Patriot Act.
[17] He admitted that he had travelled to Afghanistan in 2000 to deliver money and computer equipment to the Taliban,[18] a violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
[4] He cooperated with authorities, meeting with prosecutors over 70 times and eventually testifying at the trials of Oussama Kassir and Abu Hamza al-Masri.
[20] In a 2021 interview, he said the case against him was "a farce" and accused the US Justice Department of misrepresenting the camp he trained at by falsely linking it to al-Qaida.