Al Qaeda Camp Scared Terrorism Suspect, His Lawyer Says

One of the six men suspected of being part of a terrorist cell here grew afraid after being taken to an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan and repeatedly asked to leave, his lawyer said Thursday.

During a bail hearing, lawyer James Harrington said Sahim Alwan had asked several people at the camp if he could leave.

He could not get out until a few days after Osama bin Laden spoke at the camp, Harrington said. Alwan then got a ride to Kandahar.

“I was scared and missed my family. I did not agree with the mentality of some of the people at the camp,” Alwan, 29, told FBI investigators. “After realizing the crazy, radical mentality of people at the camp, I decided to leave.”

Alwan spoke to the FBI several times before his arrest, according to the criminal complaint, which disclosed details from the interviews.

Prosecutors said the men are flight risks and also should remain in jail because some claimed tiny net worths while carrying thousands of dollars.

Defense attorneys have moved to dismiss the charges. The men, accused of supporting Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terrorist network, are all American citizens.

William Clauss, who represents Yahya Goba, 25, said prosecutors had no evidence suggesting Goba took orders from Al Qaeda or linking him to an e-mail prosecutors said was from one suspected cell member to another.

At their arraignments, U.S. Magistrate H. Kenneth Schroeder entered not guilty pleas for Alwan and Goba, as well as Faysal Galab, 26, Shafal Mosed, 24, Yasein Taher, 24, and Mukhtar al-Bakri, 22. They could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Defense attorney Patrick Brown said Mosed’s family received pledges for real estate valued at about $600,000 for bail if needed. “These are people of rather modest means, I think, who are willing to risk it all. That says something.”

Brown and Rodney Personius, Taher’s lawyer, questioned Alwan’s credibility and disputed the claim that their clients ever visited Afghanistan. Joseph LaTona, representing Galab, said there isn’t any proof his client went except the statements of Alwan and Al-Bakri to the FBI.

Schroeder said the bail hearing would continue this afternoon.

Five of the men were arrested last week after a series of raids in Lackawanna, five miles south of Buffalo. The sixth was detained in Bahrain and flown back.

Assistant U.S. Atty. William Hochul said a July 18 e-mail sent by Al-Bakri to an uncharged co-conspirator uses language similar to that used by Bin Laden in a December videotape and discusses an attack using explosives.

Hochul said other evidence found at Al-Bakri’s last known residence in Lackawanna included a rifle, a telescopic sight and a cassette tape that “asks Allah to give Jews and their enablers [the U.S.] a black day.”

John Molloy, Al-Bakri’s lawyer, conceded that his client went to Afghanistan. He said the hunting rifle and scope belong to Al-Bakri’s father, the cassette dates from about 1980 and refers to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the e-mail quotes hearsay Al-Bakri gathered from an old man and a taxi driver at dinner in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, in May.

Officials have said they had no evidence of any pending attacks planned by the cell but became alarmed this month when conversations among the men intensified.

Two other suspected cell members, identified as Jaber Elbaneh and Kamal Derwish, are believed to be in Yemen. Authorities say they believe Derwish is the ringleader.

The prosecutor said the defendants and Elbaneh traveled to Pakistan last year for religious training before heading to Afghanistan for instruction by terrorists linked to Al Qaeda.