Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Bin Laden's deputy had lived in US - World - smh.com.au
SACRAMENTO: Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, lived in California in 1998 and 1999, a paid FBI informant says.
Naseem Kahn, 32, who gave evidence on Monday in the trial of a Pakistani-American father and son accused of terrorism-related activity, told the court he frequently saw Zawahiri coming and going from the mosque in Lodi, south of Sacramento, but never talked to him and did not know who he was at the time.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian believed to be hiding in Pakistan, this month called on Muslims to attack the West.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to say whether Zawahiri had lived in the US or had just passed through on a fund-raising mission.
Mr Khan's evidence is key to the prosecution's case in the trial of Hamid Hayat, charged with lying to the FBI and providing material support to terrorists by attending terrorist training camps in Pakistan. His father, Umer, 48, is also charged with lying to the FBI.
