Five Americans jailed in Pakistan on terrorism charges

A Pakistani court sentenced five Americans to ten years in jail each on Thursday after finding them guilty of waging war against the state and funding a terrorist group. The five, aged 19 to 25, had been on trial in a closed court in a prison in the eastern city of Sargodha since March.  

Reuters

The judge found them guilty of two charges, but acquitted them of three others. In a mostly secret trial, each defendant was handed concurrent sentences of ten and five years and fined 70,000 rupees (670 euros).

Both the defence and the prosecution vowed to appeal. Rana Bakhtiar, deputy prosecutor general for the Punjab provincial government, said he would seek 20-year sentences.

The men have been identified as Rami Zamzam, of Egyptian descent, Waqar Hussain and Umar Farooq of Pakistani descent, and Amman Hassan Yamer and Ahmad Abdullah Minni, who are of Ethiopian descent.

Pakistani officials said the young men planned to travel to neighbouring Afghanistan and join up with Taliban-led militants fighting US and NATO troops.

The defendants pleaded their innocence, saying they had come to Pakistan to attend a wedding and wanted to travel onto Afghanistan to do humanitarian work.