Ali Muhammad Brown described himself as a “strict Muslim.” He “told investigators that his four male victims represented ‘a life for a life’ for ‘Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, all these places where innocent lives are being taken every single day.’”
This endless cycle of revenge is sanctioned by the Qur’an: “And We ordained for them therein a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds is legal retribution. But whoever gives charity, it is an expiation for him. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed – then it is those who are the wrongdoers.” (5:45)
Read here an exclusive firsthand account from someone who knew Ali Muhammad Brown.
“Seattle man accused of terrorism pleads guilty to NJ murder,” by David Porter, Associated Press, March 6, 2018:
NEWARK, N.J. —A man who authorities say killed four people in two states in revenge for U.S. policy in the Middle East has pleaded guilty to killing a college student in New Jersey.
The Essex County prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that Ali Muhammad Brown admitted shooting 19-year-old Brandon Tevlin in late June 2014 as Tevlin sat at a traffic light in West Orange, a few miles from Newark.
Brown, a 33-year-old former Seattle resident, pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including murder, murder, robbery and terrorism. He was the first person charged with terrorism connected to a homicide under a New Jersey law.
Brown also is awaiting trial in three killings in Washington state from earlier in 2014.
In court papers filed in Seattle, authorities said Brown described himself to detectives after his New Jersey arrest as a strict Muslim who had become angry with the U.S. government’s role in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. He claimed the government’s actions led to the deaths of innocent civilians and children.
In a subsequent recorded interview in New Jersey, Washington authorities wrote, Brown described his idea of a “just kill,” in which the target was men unaccompanied by women, children or elderly people….