Much of the evidence consists of FBI audio and video surveillance, including the al-Qaida allegiance or “bayat” ceremony staged by Mohammed on March 10, 2006, at a warehouse the group used as a headquarters.

“I thought it was a joke and I didn’t take it serious,” said Rotschild Augustine, 23, in a written statement. “I felt as though we were all manipulated and (forced) to do things that didn’t feel right ... I’m just mad I even ended up meeting with these people and getting me and the rest of us into this situation and being fooled.”

Another defendant, 32-year-old Lyglenson Lemorin, told FBI agents he grew “fearful” after the ceremony and that he “knew nothing good would come from this. Lemorin has seen al-Qaida on TV and advised that ’they do killing’ and that he does not want to be associated with that,” an FBI summary said.

Group ready to wage war?
Prosecutors scoff at such claims, noting in court papers that members of the group later discussed a plot to conduct coordinated attacks against FBI buildings in five cities and use land Batiste’s family owned in Louisiana as a training camp. They also took video and photos of potential targets in the Miami area, including the FBI office, a large downtown federal building and a National Guard Armory.

“Batiste and the other defendants eagerly embraced and pledged to support al-Qaida, and they carried out surveillance and other activities in specific support of an identified al-Qaida plot,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Arango in court documents.

Members of the group would often go paintball shooting as a form of military training, and once used a U.S. flag for target practice, defendant Burson Augustin, 22, told the FBI.

There was also discussion of overthrowing the U.S. government, defendant Patrick Abraham told the FBI. Abraham, 27, also said he suggested that Mohammed be investigated by the group, which resulted in Mohammed being strip-searched and driven to a meeting with Batiste in the Florida Keys town of Islamorada.

After that, the group trusted Mohammed once again.

“Abraham attended several meetings with Batiste and Brother Mohammed where Batiste discussed a plan to take down the Sears Tower in Chicago and wage war with the U.S. government,” the FBI summary of Abraham’s interview said.

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