BRITAIN: A British man, accused of raising money through Internet sites in the United States for Islamic militants in Chechnya and Afghanistan, was remanded in custody by a British court yesterday on a US extradition warrant.
Londoner Mr Babar Ahmad, (30), appeared at Bow Street magistrates court after being arrested on Thursday. The extradition warrant says he solicited money for "acts of terrorism in Chechnya and Afghanistan" via US-based websites and through e-mails.
"I don't want to go," Ahmad told the court after district judge Christopher Pratt asked if he would agree to extradition.
No application for bail was made, and another hearing was set for a week's time.
The warrant and criminal complaint unsealed on Friday in New Haven, Connecticut, said Ahmad and others operated websites through Internet providers in Las Vegas and Trumbull, Connecticut.
Ahmad was charged with material support for terrorism, conspiracy to launder money to support the Taliban and Chechen rebels and other charges. If convicted, he faces anything from 10 years to life in prison.
"We are going to start right away to start the (extradition) proceeding," US attorney Mr Kevin O'Connor told reporters.
The US says Ahmad was encouraging Muslims to fight in Afghanistan and had documents on US naval forces in the Gulf in his possession when he was arrested briefly in December.Then, he was held for six days under anti-terror laws and released without trial.
Mr Ahmad's defence lawyer Ms Carolina Guiloff said he was assaulted by police at that time.
The lawyer representing the US government said in London on Thursday the websites also told Pakistani nationals in Canada, the US and Britain how to travel to Afghanistan via Pakistan to fight for the Taliban.
"Muslims must use any means at their disposal to undertake military and physical training for Jihad," said one of the websites, the lawyer said.
Ahmad was also linked to an e-mail account associated with a senior Chechen Islamic militant involved in the 2002 Moscow theatre siege, in which 129 hostages and 41 rebels died, she added.
When British police raided his house in December, they found official US documents detailing the workings of a navy battle group in the strategic Straits of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf in April 2001, she said.
The documents outlined how US warships enforcing sanctions against Iraq and conducting operations against al-Qaeda were vulnerable to attacks from small craft and rocket-propelled grenades, she said. Police sources said Mr Ahmad's arrest was not linked to the detention of 12 men in Britain earlier this week under anti-terror laws.