Jamaat ul-Fuqraa' (alternatively Jamaat al-Fuqraa';
Arabic: جماعة الفقراء, "Community of the Impoverished") is a
terrorist[1][2][3] organization mostly based in
Pakistan and the United States. Some of the approximately 3,000 members have planned various acts of violence, often directed at rival factions.[4] Two Al-Fuqra members were convicted of conspiring to murder
Rashad Khalifa in 1990,[5][6] and others are alleged to have
assassinatedAhmadiyya leader Mozaffar Ahmad in 1983[7][8] are the same as Jamaat ul-Fuqra, but this has not been confirmed. These allegations are primarily made by far-right organizations, many who believe the organizations are operating terrorist training camps in the United States.[9] Muslims of America denies any connection.[10]
Although various members have been suspected[13] of assassinations and other acts of terror perpetrated in the 1980s and later,[14] and some members having been charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder and other crimes,[15] the Jamaat itself is not listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US or the EU.[16] It was included in a list of terrorist organizations in Patterns of Global Terrorism, a 1999 report by the
U.S. State Department.[17]
On July 29, 1983,
Stephen Paul Paster, a Jamaat member,[20] set off a bomb at the Hotel Rajneesh, a hotel in
Portland, Oregon, United States. The hotel was owned by the
Rajneesh religious group and featured the Zorba the Buddha nightclub.[21] Paster had several bombs and homemade
napalm in his room, but one of the bombs went off in his hands while he was placing the bombs in the midst of the napalm.[22]
Paster was almost immediately arrested after the bombs went off, as he was one of only two people injured in the explosion, which took place at 1:23 a.m. After the hotel was evacuated two other explosions occurred at 3 a.m. Paster was charged with arson due to the fire which resulted from the explosions.[23] Paster posted $20,000 bail, then fled Oregon and was not apprehended until June 1984 in
Englewood, Colorado. In November 1985, Paster was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a
Multnomah County circuit judge.[22]
^Fainaru, Steve; Alia Ibrahim (2002-09-10). "Mysterious Trip to Flight 77 Cockpit; Suicide Pilot's Conversion to Radical Islam Remains Obscure". The Washington Post. p. A17.
^Pankratz, Howard (2002-02-10). "Message spurred kidnap arrest Pakistani sent communique to Va". The Denver Post. p. A-08.
^Berthiaume, Lee (2002-05-04). "The untold story of Hasanville's shadowy past: (Part 1)". Ottawa Citizen. CanWest Global Communications Corp. p. B1.
"Jamaat ul-Fuqra", South Asia Terrorism Portal