The FBI informant who befriended a Lodi man charged with attending an Al Qaeda training camp said Thursday that the defendant took an interest in terrorist groups and spoke admiringly about jihad.A federal prosecutor asked the informant, Naseem Khan, how defendant Hamid Hayat saw himself in relation to the Taliban, Al Qaeda and other such groups. "He never, ever considered himself American," said Khan, who was on the witness stand during the fourth day of testimony in Hayat's terrorism trial in U.S. District Court.
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Hayat, 23, is charged with three counts of making false statements to the FBI about attending an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan in 2003 and with providing material support to terrorists. He faces up to 39 years in prison if convicted. His father, 48-year-old Umer Hayat, faces two counts of making false statements to the FBI about whether his son attended the camp. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Laura Ferris questioned Khan on Thursday about conversations he had with Hamid Hayat, many of which were secretly recorded and are contained in hundreds of hours of audiotape. Hayat, a U.S. citizen who has been in custody since June, listened without expressing any emotion as the man he'd considered a close friend described conversations they had had over cups of tea.
The focus of one conversation was a scrapbook Hayat had filled with newspaper articles he had collected during previous trips to Pakistan. The articles described political figures and developments in that country and Afghanistan. One photograph appeared to show a mounted machine gun that was described as a weapon of the Taliban. At one point, according to Khan, Hayat praised Al Qaeda as "a tough group," adding, "They're even smarter than the FBI, friend."
Transcripts of the conversations show Hayat eager to tell his new friend about what he learned in Pakistan and the people he met there. Khan encouraged the discussions, at one point telling Hayat, "You see, I know you're better than me when it comes to Islam. You know a lot moreÂ…. That's why I respect you, and that's why I like you, because I learned a lot of good things from you."