ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Five northern Virginia men accused of terrorist ties told a court Monday that they had neither sought nor established any contact with Islamic extremist groups, according to their attorney, and had traveled to the region only “to help the helpless Muslims.”
No formal charges were filed during the hearing against the men, who include two Pakistani-Americans, two Yemeni-Americans and one Egyptian-American. Police officials reiterated over the weekend that they intend to seek life sentences under anti-terrorism laws and said their investigative report and recommendations for legal charges would be filed by today.
The men were returned to prison after the brief midday session in Sargodha, and another hearing was set for Jan. 18. But the judge released Khalid Farooq Chaudhry, the father of Pakistani-American defendant Umar Chaudhry, saying there was insufficient evidence to keep him detained.
All six men were arrested at the elder Chaudhry’s family home in Sargodha in mid-December.
The FBI is investigating the suspects’ possible terrorist ties, and officials have said the U.S. Justice Department is likely to consider charges that include material support of terrorist organizations. But any decision on whether to prosecute the men through the U.S. system is weeks, or possibly months, away.
No journalists were allowed to attend Monday’s hearing in Pakistan. But the men’s attorney and a public prosecutor spoke to journalists afterward, and their accounts of what was said in court were very similar.
The men’s attorney, Amir Abdullah Rok hri, told journalists that all five had denied traveling to Pakistan for terrorist purposes and said they had not been in personal or e-mail contact with individual extremists.
“They were here to help the helpless Muslims,” Rokhri said. “That’s why they wanted to go to Afghanistan, not for terrorism.”
But one of the men, speaking to reporters as he entered the courtroom, indicated they had planned to wage holy war, The Associated Press reported.
“We are not terrorists,” Ramy Zamzam said, according to the wire service. “We are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism.”
In addition to Zamzam and Chaudhry, the other men are Ahmad A. Minni, Waqar Khan and Aman Hassan Yemer. Their ages range from 18 to 24.
