Connecticut Terror Case: U.K. Suspect Charged in U.S. Warship Plot
EmailSyed Talha Ahsan was arrested in London last night under a warrant and indictment in Connecticut for his alleged involvement with Babar Ahmad.
Ahmad was indicted in the U.S. in 2004 for allegedly providing material support to Chechen terrorist groups and the Taliban. Ahmad is currently battling his extradition to the United States in British courts. The British government has said that Ahmad can be extradited to the United states to face trial. Lawyers for Babar Ahmad have filed an appeal with Britain’s High Court.
From 1997 until his arrest in 2004, Ahmad allegedly ran websites for Azzam Publications, which used to carry propaganda for al Qaeda, including Bin Laden’s 1996 Declaration of War against the U.S. The Azzam website is a key recruitment and propaganda tool for al Qaeda and mujaheddin.
According to Ahsan’s indictment which was unsealed earlier today, "In or about April, 2001, the defendant Syed Talha Ahsan possessed, accessed, modified and re-saved a document containing then-classified United States Navy plans of a United States Naval Battle Group operating in the Straits of Hormuz and discussing the Naval Group’s vulnerabilities to terrorist attack."
According to the indictment, Ahsan allegedly helped run the websites with Ahmad.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Connecticut since some of the web servers they allegedly used were based in Connecticut. He is also charged with helping facilitate suspected terrorist travel to Chechnya and Afghanistan.
He has been charged in a three-count indictment with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy and conspiracy to kill and injure persons abroad.
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So let me get this straight. The right wing say we’re on the verge of WWIII. Newt says we’re already in WWIII. And now Iran is supposedly going to conduct an imminent attack on us. And the world is BETTER OFF than it was before the Iraq war?! How can the right wing get any more wacko? I’ll guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Posted by: Eric | July 20, 2006, 1:39 am 1:39 am
Well if the gentleman has citizensship in this country then he must be tried as a traitor. This time we need to do it the right way, not plee barganing, no trading off, just good old fashioned guilty and face the firing squad. Yes the death penalty goes with treason and it always has gone with treason. We have become to, dare I say it, LIBERAL. OK, so I’m a Democrat but I can believe in capital punisment when it is necessary. And these days ofHamas,Hezbollah and Taliban capital punishment is necessary. Fast and without remorce, just as they do it. We need to be as civilized at war as they are.
Posted by: Bill | July 20, 2006, 7:26 am 7:26 am
It sounds complicated with international laws etc. If this guy is arrested and extradited, the news media will make him out to be a cuddly teddy bear, kind, and gentle person just as they did with Nasrallah. This thing is not a slam-dunk case. The defense lawyers will claim the evidence and charges are pre-911 and do not apply to the present day situation. Enter the ACLU with the political correctness card and this guy gets to walk.
Posted by: botcha-galoop | July 21, 2006, 9:19 am 9:19 am