Pakistani court convicts, sentences 5 American for terrorism – Homeland Security Newswire
Five American men were convicted earlier today (Thursday, 24 June) on terror charges by a Pakistani court and sentenced to ten years in prison in a case that has heightened concerns about Westerners traveling to Pakistan to contact al Qaeda and other Islamist extremist groups.
AP reports that the trial of the young Muslim men, all of them from northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., was sensitive for the United States, which has a duty to ensure justice for its citizens abroad but also has pushed Pakistan to crack down on militancy.
The men were arrested in Pakistan in December after their families reported them missing. Prosecutors said e-mail records and witness statements proved they were plotting terror attacks in Pakistan and conspired to wage war against nations allied with it, a reference to Afghanistan, where the men were alleged to have been traveling.
