A witness, expected to testify today in a terrorism trial in New York, is also believed to be the person federal prosecutors want to testify at the sentencing later this year of two British citizens imprisoned in Connecticut for supporting terrorism.
Saajid Badat will testify live today from London in the New York trial of Osama bin Laden's son-in-law. He is expected to talk about his experiences with Al-Qaida after the attacks on the World Trade Center. Badat was convicted in a failed 2001 plot to bring down an American Airlines flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.
Here in Connecticut, British citizens Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan have pleaded guilty to operating a group of websites that promoted violent jihad. Authorities say they used an internet service provider based in Connecticut to run one of the websites.
Prosecutors say they want to show the consequences of efforts by Ahmad and Ahsan to use the web to recruit people for terrorism training. Badat is expected to testify that Ahmad sent him to Afghanistan where he was mentored and trained by members of Al-Qaida.
Ahmad and Ahsan say Badat has an incentive to lie, because he’ll benefit from cooperating with authorities.
