A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a man identifying as Admiral Ala’Ad-Din Bey, who sought to challenge a 2011 criminal conviction by claiming his religious and national identity rights were violated.
The ruling, issued by Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, brings a swift end to the civil action. The case is the latest in a long string of legal maneuvers by Bey—formerly known as Amin-Bey—to wipe away a 2016 guilty plea for assaulting a federal officer.
The history of the case dates back to August 2011, when Bey was charged in New Jersey with the assault. After years of litigation, he eventually pleaded guilty in February 2016.
At the time, he was sentenced to time served and one year of supervised release. Despite the case being closed for years, Bey began a blitz of filings in 2023 to reopen it.
In his most recent complaint against the U.S. Department of Justice, Bey argued that authorities in New Jersey violated his “Moorish Afrimerican Islaamic faith-based religious freedom of speech rights.” He claimed he was under duress when he entered his original plea and asserted his right to proclaim his “autocephalous Moorish Afrimerican Nationality.”
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Bey told the court his filings were specifically intended “for the purpose of overturning the verdict for criminal case 2:16-cr-91 in the United States District Court of New Jersey.”
However, Judge AliKhan noted that the law is very clear on whether one district court can interfere with the business of another. In her memorandum opinion, she wrote that the court “lacks jurisdiction to review decisions of other federal courts.”
Because the original conviction happened in New Jersey, the D.C. court has no legal power to act as an appeals court for that jurisdiction. As a result, the judge dismissed the case entirely, also denying Bey’s request to have the U.S. Marshals Service handle legal paperwork for him.
This decision follows several failed attempts by Bey in New Jersey courts, where his motions were previously denied because he is no longer in custody, a typical requirement for the specific type of post-conviction relief he was seeking.
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