New York man does not enter plea, faces eight years in prison

Shehadeh had been accused of trying to join the US military intending to attack US troops in Iraq.

A New Yorker who had earlier tried joining Pakistani militant organisations and has been accused of trying to join the US military intending to attack US troops in Iraq, did not enter a plea as he faced a US judge in New York on Tuesday.

Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, aged 21, a US citizen, was arrested on October 22 in Hawaii and transferred to the US district court in Brooklyn, where he is charged with making materially false statements in a matter involving international terrorism. He faces eight years in prison.

In a brief hearing, US District Judge Ramon Reyes arraigned Shehadeh and ordered him held without bail. Shehadeh, who had shoulder-length hair and wore grey track pants, spoke only once, to answer “yes” to a judge’s question.

A criminal complaint said that law enforcement officials had trailed Shehadeh closely and interviewed him repeatedly over the last two years.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters last week that Shehadeh was “a homegrown individual who wants to do us harm.”

Court documents said Shehadeh told a witness that “joining the military was an easier way to achieve my purposes because the military would provide him with training, transportation and a weapon,” the complaint said.

Military recruiters ultimately rejected his application because they found he had lied about his travel history, the complaint said.

When authorities questioned him about his travel attempts, the complaint said, he lied about his intentions, telling them he intended to study Islam in Pakistan, not receive military training.

Shehadeh also created radical websites, “which advocated violent jihad against the West,” and sought to contact members of al-Qaeda, the complaint said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2010.