NEW YORK — A native New Yorker and a former accountant were charged Friday with conspiring to give computer advice, buy wrist watches and do other tasks to help al-Qaeda “modernize.”
A vague indictment unsealed Friday in federal court in Manhattan accused Wesam El-Hanafi, born in Brooklyn, of traveling to Yemen to meet with unnamed al-Qaeda members in February 2008. He had bought computer software that allowed him to secretly communicate over the Internet, prosecutors allege. That summer, he met with an unnamed co-conspirator and the second defendant, Sabirhan Hasanoff, in Brooklyn to discuss joining al- Qaeda, according to the indictment.
The papers say that the conspiracy included El-Hanafi buying seven Casio digital watches last year, but doesn’t say why. The Associated Press
