US youth convicted of supporting terror groups
2009-08-13

Category Al Qaeda Taliban Nations Bangladesh Canada Afghanistan Pakistan Sweden Category Regions Regions Asia North America Pacific Rim Europe Event U.S. War on Terror Source (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A 23-year-old US man was found guilty Wednesday by a federal jury in Atlanta, Georgia of supporting terror groups by sending videos of US landmarks abroad and plotting "violent jihad" in Europe.

Ehsanul Islam Sadequee could face up to 60 years in prison after he was convicted on four counts of providing material support to terrorism.

He is scheduled for sentencing on October 15, along with his friend, Syed Haris Ahmed, who was convicted after a bench trial in June.

During the trial, prosecutors said Sadequee and his co-conspirators developed relationships over the Internet and maintained contact online, along with other "supporters of violent jihad" in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Bosnia and beyond.

The young man, prosecutors said, traveled to Canada to meet other militants, including members of the "Toronto 18" Al-Qaeda-inspired group, and to Bangladesh, where he sent an email in 2001 when he was only 15 seeking to join the Taliban to fight US and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Among the contacts to whom Sadequee sent his videos of potential targets in Washington -- including the US Capitol, the World Bank and a fuel tank farm -- was Aabid Hussein Khan, a facilitator for the Pakistani militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

He also sent video clips to Younis Tsouli, who dispersed propaganda and recruited for Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Both Tsouli, 26, and Khan, 24, have been convicted on terror-related charges in Britain and are behind bars there.

During his stay in Bangladesh, US prosecutors said Sadequee "began to conspire more closely" with Tsouli and Mirsad Bektasevic, a Balkan-born Swede who was convicted in 2007 for trying to blow up a European target.

The trio, along with others, formed a violent militant group called "Al-Qaeda in Northern Europe" that was to be based in Sweden and focus on attacking European targets.

Prosecutors presented evidence at the trial showing that in October 2005, Sadequee sought to obtain a visa to relocate from Bangladesh to Sweden.

And as recently as three days before Bektasevic's arrest on October 19 that year, the two were in touch to discuss the silencer and explosives Bektasevic had acquired for the group as well as videotapes he had made about how to use their weapons arsenal in Europe.

Federal officials pointed to the plot by a small militant cell based in the southern city of Atlanta as an example that supporters of terror groups are present in the United States.

"This case remains, however, a sobering reminder that terrorism and its supporters are not confined to distant battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan," US Attorney David Nahmias said in a statement.

"As recent events further demonstrate, there are still some American citizens willing to take up arms against the United States, our people, our allies and our interests."

Atlanta FBI Special Agent Gregory Jones concurred, saying the domestic spy agency continues to investigate "a growing number" of cases where US citizens are found to support terror groups.

However, he noted, "as we move further away from the tragic events of September 11, 2001, there also seems to be a growing public perception that such conduct is harmless, especially since no bombs were exploded and no one was killed."

Sadequee, who was first arrested in April 2006 in Bangladesh at the age of 20, represented himself during the trial.

"Jihad," which means "struggle" in Arabic and is also a spiritual term, is understood in Western countries as "holy war."