The men told court that they intended to travel to Afghanistan “to help their Muslim brothers” who they said were being victimized by the Western forces, according to Mohammad Amir Khan, a defence lawyer.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Jihad Watch
Source & Credit: TimesOnline
By Zahid Hussain in Islamabad

US students accused of Pakistan terror attack plot ‘on jihad mission’

One of the five Americans accused of plotting terror attacks in Pakistan yesterday claimed the group were on their way to neighboring Afghanistan to wage jihad against Western forces fighting there.

Ramy Zamzam, one of the accused who is being held along with four other students from Virginia, told the court in the eastern city of Sargodha: “We are not terrorists. We are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism”.

The five American men detained in Pakistan denied having links to al-Qaeda or planning to carry out terrorist attacks, as a court gave police two weeks to present charges against them.

The men told court that they intended to travel to Afghanistan “to help their Muslim brothers” who they said were being victimised by the Western forces, according to Mohammad Amir Khan, a defence lawyer.

The men from suburbs of Washington D.C appeared before a special anti-terrorism court in the eastern city of Sargodha where they could face multiple terrorism charges. They were shackled and brought to the court under tight security with armed police commandos deployed on the rooftop. Journalists were barred from the court room.

Police told the court that they have completed the investigation and have enough evidence against the men to try them under anti-terrorism laws. A senior police official said the prosecution planned to seek life sentences for the men.

A Pakistani High Court last month ordered authorities not to deport them to the US without its consent. Terrorism charges filed in Pakistan courts would hamper extradition efforts by the US.

The five men between the ages of 19 to 24 were alleged to have developed links with a Pakistani militant group connected to al-Qaeda operating in the country’s north-west. Pakistani investigators said the information gleaned from their computers and material seized from them showed that they were plotting to carry out attacks on a Pakistani airbase and other defense installations.

The investigators said the men had confessed that they came to Pakistan for jihad. The Americans — two of Pakistani origin, one of Egyptian origin, one of Ethiopian origin and one of Eritrean origin - have been identified as Mr Zamzam, Waqar Hussain, Aman Yamar, Ahmad Abdul Minni and Umer Farooq. They were interrogated by the FBI as well as Pakistani intelligence agencies and American Federal Bureau of Investigation Pakistani investigators.

Investigators said the men had communicated with contacts in Pakistan through YouTube. They met with a man named “Saifullah” on their arrival in Southern port city of Karachi on November 30. They later traveled to Hyderabad, 100 miles from Karachi on December 1 and visited a madrassa run by Jaish-e-Mohammed, an outlawed Pakistani militant group which is linked with al Qaeda.

There, investigators said, they expressed their interest in jihad.

They then traveled to Sargodha after they were turned away by the madrassa management, where they were arrested. Police said “Saifullah,” who is yet to be arrested, was the key link in the investigation. The men also intended to go to North Waziristan tribal region for militant training .

The court, yesterday also ordered the release of Khalid Farooq, also an American citizen and father of one of the accused, for lack of evidence. He was detained for questioning after the five men were arrested from his family house in Sargodha last month.

Read here: Times Online : US students accused of Pakistan terror attack plot ‘on jihad mission’

The New York times: U.S. Suspects in Pakistan Invoke Jihad, Not Terrorism