US militant suspects 'wanted to help'_1447

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Defence lawyer Amir Abdullah Rokri told AFP that his clients denied sending an email to an al-Qaeda-linked figure named Saifullah.
"One of the suspects said that they were going to Afghanistan to help the Muslims," said public prosecutor Nadeem Akram Cheema.
The area is also known as a training ground and haven for militants plotting attacks against foreign troops based in Afghanistan,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, and the United States is pressuring Islamabad to do more to monitor the porous frontier.
"The court released Khalid Farooqi and sent the others on judicial remand,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login," Rokri told AFP. "The next hearing will be on January 18."
Both requests were granted on Monday.
"When the judge addressed them and said 'so you admit that you were going to Afghanistan', another suspect said 'yes, we were going to Afghanistan to help Muslims',You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login," Cheema said, without naming the suspects who spoke.
Pakistan has been fighting against the Taliban in South Waziristan, part of the northwest tribal belt on the Afghan border that US officials call al-Qaeda's chief sanctuary and the most dangerous place on the planet.
The men appeared briefly in the courtroom in Sargodha town in eastern Pakistan on Monday, handcuffed and dressed in jeans and scarfs. Two unarmed police guards were present in the courtroom as elite police commandos guarded the premises.
There has been concern in the United States that extremists within Pakistan might try to take control of nuclear assets or attack atomic facilities, despite insistence from Western officials that the facilities are safe.
Five US militant suspects have been remanded back into custody by a Pakistani court, after telling judges they wanted to help Muslims in war-torn Afghanistan,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, lawyers say.
The five young men were arrested in December on suspicion of trying to contact al-Qaeda-linked groups and are facing terror charges for allegedly plotting attacks in Pakistan, which could see them jailed for life.
The suspects, who are all US citizens with dual nationality including two Pakistani-Americans, have also been questioned by the FBI.
Police have said investigations into the men's activities are complete, with the court requested to file charges under the anti-terrorism act.
Questioned by Judge Anwer Nazeer, two of the men denied links to al-Qaeda but said they were trying to travel to Afghanistan, where US, NATO and Afghan forces are fighting a virulent Taliban insurgency.
US militant suspects 'wanted to help'
Cheema said police requested the five be remanded into custody, while Khalid Farooqi, the Pakistani father of two of the suspects, be freed.
"It has now been established that the five men had contacts with militants, some of them foreigners, in South Waziristan, and they had come to Pakistan to carry out acts of terror," senior police official Tahir Gujjar said Saturday.
A Pakistani court last month ordered that the five suspects cannot be deported without its permission.
"They told the judge that they have neither committed any crime in Pakistan,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, nor had they any intention to do so. They were going to Afghanistan to help injured and homeless people," Rokri said.
"Police requested the court to discharge Khalid Farooqi as there is no evidence against him and he had been convincing and trying to stop his sons from going for jihad," Cheema said.