NEW YORK--A Pakistani held for four months in the government'sterrorism investigation was charged Friday with entering the UnitedStates to help clear the way for an al-Qaida associate to sneak inafter him.
Uzair Paracha, 23, detained as a material witness since his Marcharrest in New York, waved and smiled to more than a dozen familymembers as he entered U.S. District Court in Manhattan for a briefappearance. He was held pending a bail hearing next week.
According to the criminal complaint, Paracha agreed to help the al-Qaida associate obtain documents that would let him enter the UnitedStates and help him obtain legal immigration status. The governmenthas not released the associate's identity but say the man hasremained overseas.
Anthony Ricco, Paracha's lawyer, said outside court that hisclient was manipulated into helping the associate and was lookingforward to a trial to prove that he had no criminal intent.
He described Paracha as "a very bright, but, I say, a very naiveyoung man" and added that he did not expect to contest that hisclient knew the associate was in al-Qaida.
"Having knowledge someone is in al-Qaida is not a criminal act,"Ricco said. "Many members of al-Qaida are not involved in criminalactivity."
Prosecutors said Paracha met with a man believed to be an al-Qaida associate in Karachi, Pakistan, before Paracha traveled to theUnited States in mid-February.
Paracha was told that the man wanted to invest about $200,000 inthe business for which Paracha worked in Karachi--and that he was notto ask any questions because the associate and a second man weresupporters of Osama bin Laden, the complaint alleged.
The complaint, prepared by an FBI agent, said Paracha believed thefunds belonged to al-Qaida and that he needed to perform certaintasks for the money to be invested.
On Thursday, Farhat Paracha said in a telephone interview from herhome in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi that the UnitedStates is holding her son illegally.
AP
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