Two Swedish citizens appeared in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York on Friday on charges that they had trained and fought with al-Shabaab, a Somali group designated as terrorists by the United States.
"The defendants are not aspiring terrorists, they are terrorists. They did more than receive terrorist training: they used it in terrorist operations with al-Shabaab," said George Venizelos of the FBI in New York.
The two Swedes, aged 27 and 29, along with a 23-year-old defendant, are accused of participating in weapons and explosives training with al-Shabaab, a United States-designated terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, during a four-year period beginning in 2008. If found guilty they could face lifetime in prison.
The men were arrested in August by authorities in Africa while going to Yemen. They appeared in the Brooklyn court with the aid of a Swedish interpreter.
Much of the case is shrouded in mystery, reports the New York Times. It remained under seal for four months and the court documents unsealed on Friday contained little elaboration on the crimes or any indication of why the case was brought in New York.
According to the Swedish Foreign Ministry, staff from the Swedish consulate visited the two Swedes and reported that they are well "considering the circumstances".
Sweden has not objected to the men's extradition to the United States.
"This is a legal issue between Djibouti and the USA," Sara Brandt-Hansen, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told the TT news agency.
Continued on Page 47
[An Nahar] Spanish satellite operator Hispasat has dropped broadcasts by two of Iranian state broadcaster IRIB's channels because of EU sanctions against its chief, the Mehr news agency reported on Saturday.
The English- and Spanish-language channels Press TV and Hispan TV were no longer available via Hispasat from Friday because of the sanctions against IRIB head Ezzatollah Zarghami, Mehr said.
No immediate comment was available from Hispasat.
"Iran will take the necessary legal measures to confront this new wave of attacks by the Americans and Europeans targeting its media," IRIB's official responsible for international affairs, Mohammed Sarafraz, said on its website.
Press TV and Hispan TV issued a joint news release denouncing what they called a "flagrant violation of freedom of speech" and "attempt to silence the truth-telling media."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
