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Aussie arrested for al-Qaeda links in Pakistan
An Australian man suspected of training with the al-Qaeda terrorist network had been detained in Pakistan, Attorney General Daryl Williams said today. Pakistan authorities advised the Australian High Commission in Pakistan last Thursday that the man was detained on January 4 in Karachi. The 29-year-old man was alleged to have trained with al-Qaeda in 2001. "He is believed, according to movement records, to have left Australia in March 2001," Mr Williams said in Adelaide today. "It is alleged that he trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in mid-2001 and for the last year or so has been in Pakistan." Since being chased out of Afghanistan with the other jihadis... The man was reportedly in good health and officials from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had informed the man's family of his detention. Except for his age, Mr Williams would not provide any details of the man, including which state he came from. We're left to wonder if he's a South Asian or Arab immigrant, or a domestic convert... Mr Williams said the man had been detained under Pakistan's national security legislation. "At this stage he has not been charged to our knowledge, it may well be that he is charged under Pakistan law. He is in the same sort of position as anyone else would be who commits a breach of the law in a country in which they are a resident or present." "We'll bring him cigarettes and soap while he's in jug, but other than that, he's on his own. Since it's Pakland, and he's got a turban, he shouldn't be in there long..." Mr Williams said the man had been sought by Australian law enforcement and intelligence agencies in Pakistan over the past year. "Through his family, the Australian authorities had been seeking to have the man contact the Australian High Commission in Islamabad but he did not do so," he said. He just didn't want to talk about it... The man is the third Australian to be detained on suspicion of having al-Qaeda links. Adelaide man David Hicks was captured fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan in November 2001 and Sydney man Mamdouh Habib was detained in Pakistan in early October 2001 before being moved to Egypt and then held in Afghanistan. Both Hicks and Habib have not been charged and have been detained at the United States' Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than a year. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-01-13 |
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