Here is the news of the arrest of a Pakistani American student at Georgia Tech.
A 21-year-old Georgia Tech student taken into federal custody last month has been charged with giving “material support” to a terrorist organization, according to his attorney Jack Martin.
The student, Syed Haris Ahmed, a mechanical engineering major who had become increasingly religious in his Islamic faith, was arrested by the FBI March 23 and has been held since then.
[…] Ahmed was taken into custody, his family said, apparently because authorities suspect a videotape he made of a building may have been related to terrorism.
Ahmed’s family immigrated from Pakistan in 1997, are now U.S. citizens and live in Dawsonville.
There are indications that Ahmed is connected to a 19-year-old Roswell man who was arrested Monday in Bangladesh. Ehsanul Islam Sadequee was arrested by Bengali authorities after at least eight months of federal investigation into him and his family, his sister, Sharmin Sadequee, said Thursday. Federal authorities would not confirm the arrest.
[…] Both families deny that their sons have any terrorist ties.
[…] The family of Syed Ahmed said agents confiscated computer hard drives and data CDs from their home.
Ahmed told his family that authorities found a video on the Internet and apparently traced it to him. “He said, ‘I made a video but didn’t distribute it to anyone,’ ” said Samia Ahmed, Syed’s sister. The video was of a building. Ahmed’s family members said they did not know the location of the building or when the tape was made.
Here is some information about the indictment against Syed Haris Ahmed.
Two Atlanta-area men in federal custody as part of a terrorism probe discussed possible locations for a U.S. attack, including military bases and oil refineries, according court documents unsealed Friday.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Atlanta on Thursday unsealed an indictment against Georgia Tech student Syed Ahmed, 21.
Ahmed was arrested last month in Atlanta and pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of material support for terrorism.
[…] An affidavit from FBI agent Michael Scherck says the duo traveled in March 2005 from Atlanta to Canada, where they met with three men who are the subject of an FBI international terrorism investigation.
Ahmed “explained that, during some of these meetings, he, Sadequee and the others discussed strategic locations in the United States suitable for a terrorist strike, to include oil refineries and military bases,” the affidavit says.
“They also plotted how to disable the global positioning system in an effort to disrupt military and commercial communications and traffic.”
The affidavit alleges the “assembled group developed a plan to receive military training at one of the several terrorist-sponsored training camps.” It also says Ahmed traveled to Pakistan in an attempt to get such training.
[…] At a news conference Thursday in Atlanta, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said Ahmed was charged with providing material support for terrorism, not planning or carrying out terrorist acts.
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said “no imminent threat” existed at any point during the investigation.
Court documents reveal the investigation included court-authorized wiretapping, recounting a conversation between Ahmed and Sadequee’s sister.
The FBI affidavit also says agents found two CD-ROMs in the lining of Sadequee’s suitcase when he was leaving the United States. One disc contained pornography and the other was encrypted with a code the FBI was unable to crack, according to the affidavit.
It also says Sadequee had maps of the Washington area with the discs.
I don’t know anything beyond what I read in the news reports, but since it is of local importance, I thought I better blog about it.
Tags: Pakistan, Atlanta, Georgia Tech.
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While I was in Germany more than 3 decades ago, a German friend used to say, “It is easy to be a good employee or a good citizen. Rember only two rules, first, boss is right, and second, if boss is not right then the first rule holds good.
Intellegence agents are more authoritative boss than even the Prime ministers or presidents.
The young man was not living in a remote village of his country but in Atlanta. He should have known that being openly a practicing Muslim is the biggest crime these days even in his own country. Backhome many innocent Muslim Scholars, including Dr Ghulam Murtaza Malik and Shamzai, had been killed in target shooting, their killers never-to-be-apprehended, and some have been forced to become fugitives.
The young man was not living in a remote village of his country but in Atlanta. He should have known that being openly a practicing Muslim is the biggest crime these days even in his own country.
Ajmal,
This is how they always interpret these issues back home. As far as I know from news he did not arrested for practicing his religion actually ha had breached few security issues.
Zack,
I am reading your blog for sometime especially things related to Pakistan. I am seeing a lot of western Muslims are becoming zealous in their faith. They are taking everything literally. They tend to be more religious than their counterparts back home. I am not saying what this guy did have anything to do with Islam. But someone did brain washed him in such a way that he wasted all future on it. To me this issue is very deep looks like they can’t relate to anything and then in order to be part of some group fell prey to bad guys. I googled for this news and they are publishing his families names and even his father’s profession online. I hope they all able to live peacefully after such a disaster.
Dad:
That might be the case in Pakistan, but not here.
Here is a detailed news link. They are going to do follow up too.
Guys like these are giving all of us a bad name. Someone should stop whatever is going back home.