Detainee's ties to Al Qaeda called into question at trial
He maintains he didn't know they were terrorists
NEW YORK -- In testimony before a US military tribunal, Saifullah Paracha said he met Osama bin Laden on a charity mission to Afghanistan in 1999.
''He delivered the Koran and said he was a prophet. He said very nice things. Very impressive," said Paracha, a Pakistani entrepreneur who split his time between Karachi and New York.
Paracha said he explained that he worked in television and asked bin Laden if he would consider appearing in a film to discuss ''the terrorism program." The project never panned out, but the meeting was one in a series that led the US government to declare Paracha an enemy combatant and detain him at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The family's interaction with terrorists also led to the arrest of his son, Uzair Paracha, 25, who is on trial on charges that he tried to help get travel documents for an Al Qaeda operative planning attacks in the United States.
The case features competing versions of how the Parachas -- outwardly pro-American businessmen with strong ties to New York -- became involved with some of Al Qaeda's most notorious figures.
On the witness stand Thursday, Uzair Paracha insisted that his father fell into company with Al Qaeda members without realizing they were terrorists.
His testimony is scheduled to resume today.
Saifullah Paracha has been telling a similar story.
A moderate Muslim who lived in New York from 1971 to 1986 and co-owns a garment import business, Saifullah Paracha acknowledged doing business with men since identified as Al Qaeda plotters but said he thought they were ordinary Pakistanis.
''They act like Pakistanis, eat the same food, look like Pakistanis, so no one can tell them apart," he said during his tribunal testimony. A transcript of that testimony was included in court papers filed by his attorney in a separate civil case.
US authorities paint a different picture.
The tribunal that reviewed Saifullah Paracha's case said he had been involved in a plan to smuggle explosives, had held large amounts of money given to him by Al Qaeda operatives, and once suggested to an Al Qaeda agent that he knew how to acquire nuclear weapons.
His Al Qaeda contacts were not minor plotters. One of his visitors in Karachi was Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and another was Ammar al-Baluchi, who was accused of delivering funds to the hijackers. A third, Majid Khan, is accused of agreeing to implement a scheme to set off bombs in gas stations in Baltimore.
All three are presumed to be in US custody, although their whereabouts have not been revealed. Each apparently has spoken with investigators about his interactions with the Parachas, according to court documents, although their statements have been kept secret.
The most damning evidence against the family may have come from Uzair Paracha himself. When FBI agents interrogated him in March 2003, he acknowledged meeting Baluchi and Khan in Pakistan, and said he knew they were terrorists. Uzair Paracha said he decided to help Khan deceive US immigration agents and slip back into the United States because the group had promised to invest $200,000 in one of his father's businesses.
Uzair Paracha retracted part of his story at his trial Thursday, saying he falsely admitted being aware of Khan's Al Qaeda ties because he was afraid of what the FBI might do to him if he didn't cooperate. ''I told them what I thought they wanted to hear," he testified.
