FBI pushed suspect to attend terror camp -DAWN - Top Stories; March 2, 2006

FBI pushed suspect to attend terror camp -DAWN - Top Stories; March 2, 2006


FBI pushed suspect to attend terror camp


SACRAMENTO, March 1: An FBI informant repeatedly pushed a terror suspect to attend an Al Qaeda camp while he was in Pakistan, at one point yelling at him in a telephone conversation: �Be a man � do something!�

The suspect, 23-year-old Hamid Hayat, is charged with lying to federal investigators about attending the camp and is standing trial in a US district court. Transcripts of secretly recorded telephone conversations between Hayat and the informant were read to jurors on Tuesday.

Hayat�s father, 48-year-old Umer Hayat, was arrested with his son last June and faces two counts of making false statements to the FBI about whether his son attended the camp.

Opening statements in his portion of the trial are scheduled for next week. Both have pleaded not guilty.

In one conversation, Hayat seemed to be procrastinating after he said he planned to attend a religious school and then a terrorist training camp when he was visiting Pakistan in 2003. The government informant, Naseem Khan, berated Hayat as lazy and said he was �wasting time,� according to the transcripts.

Khan even threatened to fly to Pakistan and force Hayat into a religious school run by Hayat�s grandfather.

Hayat later told FBI interrogators that students from the school often went to terror training camps.

�You told me, �I�m going to a camp. I�ll do this, I�ll do that,�� Khan said in a conversation recorded in July 2003, several months after Hayat arrived in Pakistan. �You�re sitting idle. You�re wasting time � Be a man, do something!�

The conversations raise questions about whether Hayat intended to train as a terrorist and return to the US to carry out attacks, as government prosecutors claim. Hayat, a US citizen, is charged with three counts of making false statements to the FBI about attending an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan and with providing material support to terrorists. He faces up to 39 years in prison if convicted. � AP