ISLAMABAD – Five men from Virginia in the United States who were arrested in Pakistan in December were charged yesterday with six terrorism-related counts, two of which carry potential sentences of life in prison.
The men, ranging in age from 18 to 24, pleaded not guilty. Judge Anwar Nazir, of Pakistan’s special anti-terror court, said the evidentiary phase of the trial would begin on March 31st.
The judge accepted a recommendation from prosecutors to charge the men with using Pakistani soil for terror attacks against a friendly country and directing a person or an organisation to carry out terrorist activities, both of which carry potential life sentences; and with criminal conspiracy to commit terror attacks in Pakistan, attempting to use Pakistani soil for terror acts against a friendly country, using and possessing money or property for committing terrorism and inciting other people to commit terror activities, all of which carry sentences of up to seven years.
“We will try to get the maximum punishment and we have all the evidence” to do so, federal prosecutor Nadeem Akram Cheema said before the hearing. Lawyers for the men said the trial would take at least six months, although even ordinary criminal trials in Pakistan are frequently delayed and can drag on for years.
The arrested men, named as Ramy Zamzam, Waqar Khan, Umar Farooq, Aman Hassan Yemer and Ahmed Minni, are Muslims from the Alexandria area of Virginia. They left the United States in November without telling their parents, and were arrested in Pakistan on December 8th.
The arrests came at a time of growing concern in the United States over home-grown terrorism, and US and Pakistani officials initially said the men would probably be deported back to Virginia, where they are under investigation by the FBI.
But US law enforcement officials now say that although their investigation will continue, no charges in an American court are imminent and investigators are waiting to see how events play out in Pakistan.
Pakistani police and intelligence officials who have interrogated the five men have said they were in contact for months with a Taliban recruiter and were trying to join up with al-Qaeda.
They were hoping to fight US troops in Afghanistan, the Pakistani officials said. The men’s family members, friends and spiritual advisers in Northern Virginia have said they never saw any sign of radical activities or beliefs on their part. – (Washington Post service)