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Eye On Boise

‘Kill, and conquer again and kill

Over defense objections, prosecutors introduced a slew of postings to a Yahoo email group about Chechnya today, each posted to the group by Sami Al-Hussayen, who's being tried on charges of providing material support to terrorism.

Most appear to be news reports highly sympathetic to the Muslim fighters in Chechnya, reporting everything from a successful ambush against Russian forces to atrocities allegedly committed against Chechen civilians by the Russians.

But prosecutors dwelled on one posting that appeared to be a religious treatise entitled "The Virtue of Jihad." In it, various sages recount ancient conversations with the Prophet Muhammed, teachings about jihad - which the two sides in the case translate variously as "struggle" and "holy war" - and quotes from the Koran.

At one point in the text, Abu Hurairah is quoted as teaching, "By the breath of Muhammad in my hand, I love to conquer in the way of Allah and kill, and conquer again and kill, and conquer again and be killed."

Prosecutors highlighted that phrase and similar ones in bright yellow on a giant computer screen for jurors, and referred to it repeatedly as "the defendant's message."

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