Americans face terror charges in Pakistan
Source: Agencies |
December 26, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
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PAKISTANI police are pursuing terrorism charges against five detained men, police said yesterday, a move that could complicate efforts to bring the men back to the United States to face charges.
The case has bolstered fears that Americans and other Westerners are heading to Pakistan to link up with al-Qaida and other militant groups, and it could test a US-Pakistani relationship already made brittle by demands of the war in neighboring Afghanistan.
The young Muslim men, who are from the Washington DC area, have not yet been charged with any crime.
However, police are now alleging that the men were collecting and attempting to collect material to carry out terrorist activities in the list of recommended charges to be presented to a court, police official Nazir Ahmad told The Associated Press.
Those charges fall under sections of Pakistan's anti-terrorism law, and the punishments range from seven years to life in prison, the official said in a phone interview.
The FBI is also looking into what potential charges they could face in the US. Possibilities include conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist group.
US Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire declined to comment on the potential charges and would not say what efforts Washington was making to bring the men back.
Snelsire did confirm that American diplomats have paid at least two consular visits to the detainees. FBI agents have also been granted some access to the men.
The men appeared before a magistrate in Sargodha in Punjab yesterday.
Police were given 10 more days to hold them, said Ansar Ahmad, another police official.
The five were arrested in Sargodha earlier this month, but are being held in Lahore, the provincial capital.
Police earlier accused them of trying to link up with militant groups and intending to go fight in Afghanistan.
The detainees are accused of using the Facebook and YouTube Websites to try to connect with extremist groups in Pakistan.
"We have seized maps of a Pakistan air force base in Sargodha and some sensitive installations at Chashma Barrage," Nazir Ahmad said.
The case has bolstered fears that Americans and other Westerners are heading to Pakistan to link up with al-Qaida and other militant groups, and it could test a US-Pakistani relationship already made brittle by demands of the war in neighboring Afghanistan.
The young Muslim men, who are from the Washington DC area, have not yet been charged with any crime.
However, police are now alleging that the men were collecting and attempting to collect material to carry out terrorist activities in the list of recommended charges to be presented to a court, police official Nazir Ahmad told The Associated Press.
Those charges fall under sections of Pakistan's anti-terrorism law, and the punishments range from seven years to life in prison, the official said in a phone interview.
The FBI is also looking into what potential charges they could face in the US. Possibilities include conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist group.
US Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire declined to comment on the potential charges and would not say what efforts Washington was making to bring the men back.
Snelsire did confirm that American diplomats have paid at least two consular visits to the detainees. FBI agents have also been granted some access to the men.
The men appeared before a magistrate in Sargodha in Punjab yesterday.
Police were given 10 more days to hold them, said Ansar Ahmad, another police official.
The five were arrested in Sargodha earlier this month, but are being held in Lahore, the provincial capital.
Police earlier accused them of trying to link up with militant groups and intending to go fight in Afghanistan.
The detainees are accused of using the Facebook and YouTube Websites to try to connect with extremist groups in Pakistan.
"We have seized maps of a Pakistan air force base in Sargodha and some sensitive installations at Chashma Barrage," Nazir Ahmad said.
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