Author: Jeff Coen, Chicago Tribune
Publication: Ledger-Enquirer.com
Date: February 27, 2007
URL: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/16792263.htm
Two Chicago-area cousins linked to a terrorism
conspiracy last week traveled to Egypt in 2004 and planned to head to Pakistan
for military training, federal prosecutors told a judge Monday.
Zubair A. Ahmed, 27, and Khaleel Ahmed, 26,
were seeking "training in Jihad," prosecutors said during a detention
hearing on whether Khaleel Ahmed should be kept in custody as he is transferred
to Ohio to face the charges.
The trip was not a vacation as the Ahmeds
have maintained, Assistant U.S. Attorney Vickie Peters said.
"It was intended as the first stop of
a trip that would land him on the battlefield of Iraq fighting U.S. servicemen,"
Peters told U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown.
The cousins were indicted by an Ohio grand
jury last week, charged with conspiracy to murder Americans outside the U.S.,
including troops in Iraq. A detention hearing for Zubair Ahmed, of North Chicago,
was delayed until Monday.
The judge ruled that there was no way the
defense could rebut the argument that Khaleel Ahmed is a danger to the community
given the charges, and ordered him held. He is expected to be taken to Ohio
to join several co-defendants in the case.
Three Toledo men - Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan
Othman El-Hindi, and Wassim Mazloum - were charged in the conspiracy last
year and have pleaded not guilty.
Peters told the judge that Zubair Ahmed's
father and El-Hindi were able to bring the cousins back from Egypt. El-Hindi
believed they needed more training, and allegedly was able to link the men
to someone who could provide it.
He did not know that person - identified as
"The Trainer" in the indictment - actually was working for the FBI.
Peters said the Ahmeds traveled to Ohio, and Khaleel Ahmed allegedly was recorded
saying he wanted weapons and sniper training.
Khaleel Ahmed's defense attorney, Brian Sieve,
argued his client is not a danger, is employed and has been living with his
family. Ahmed has no criminal history and no use of drugs in his past, Sieve
said.
The trip to Egypt allegedly took place more
than two years ago, and the government did not see any urgency to arrest him,
he said. Instead the government is relying on the "emotional appeal of
the charges" to detain Ahmed now, Sieve said.
"Mr. Khaleel Ahmed is barely mentioned
in the indictment and certainly is not a key player in the conspiracy,"
he told the judge.
