A former Georgia Tech student allegedly involved in planning attacks against U.S. targets, including Marietta's Dobbins Air Reserve Base, pleaded not guilty Thursday to additional federal terrorism charges. Pakistan-born Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, appeared with his attorney Jack Martin before U.S. District Court Judge E. Clayton Scofield III to answer the new charges contained in a recently filed expanded indictment. The U.S. attorney's Atlanta office tacked on three additional counts having to do with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and foreign terrorist organizations.It also has added alleged co-conspirator Eshsanul Islam Sadequee, 19, to the indictment. Sadequee is in custody in New York, but is expected to appear in federal court here Aug. 18. Sadequee, who was born in Virginia and is of Bangladeshi descent, was charged in March with making false statements to federal agents after his arrest in Bangladesh. Ahmed originally was indicted in March on one count of providing material support to terrorist.
Neither U.S. Attorney David Nahmias nor Martin would comment on the case Thursday. Federal officials accuse Ahmed, a naturalized citizen, and Sadequee of engaging in acts in support of a jihad, or holy war, against the United States. Those acts, they allege, include participating in paramilitary training, sizing up possible targets, communicating with supporters of violent jihad and like-minded extremists, and traveling abroad in support of their plot. Federal authorities, however, say the men had not gotten far enough along in their planning for attacks on U.S. targets, also including oil refineries and the U.S. Capitol, to be an imminent threat.