• Made international money transfers to finance the activities of six jihadist members of the Portland Seven terrorist group

   

Born in 1977, October Martinique Lewis was a member of the Portland Seven, an Oregon-based cell of Islamic extremists charged with conspiracy to levy war against the United States, conspiracy to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda, and conspiracy to contribute services to al Qaeda and the Taliban. Lewis’ fellow Portland Seven members included her ex-husband Jeffrey Leon Battle (who she wed in 1999 and divorced five months later), Maher Mofeid Hawash, Habis Abdulla Al-Saoub, Patrice Lumumba Ford, Ahmed Abrahim Bilal, and Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal.

Lewis did not directly attempt to take up arms against the United States, as her six male accomplices did. But while those accomplices traveled abroad (between October 2001 and February 2002) in an effort to join forces with the al Qaeda and Taliban jihadists who were fighting against American troops in Afghanistan, Lewis repeatedly sent them money to finance their activities; she knew the funds would be used to support their continuing attempts to enter Afghanistan and take up arms against the United States and its allies. She used false names to make these international money transfers.

In September 2003 Lewis pleaded guilty to six counts of money laundering. The following month she was sentenced to three years in prison.