UAE prosecutor claims US man had al-Qaida ties

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — A state prosecutor in Abu Dhabi claimed Monday that an American on trial in the Emirates had ties to a group backed by al-Qaida in Iraq.

The allegations were the first specific details made public against Naji Hamdan, who was arrested last year on terror-related charges and who had claimed he was beaten and abused by Emirates security agents and forced to sign a confession.

The charges against Hamdan include supporting terrorism, working with terrorist organizations and being a member of a terrorist group. The charges are related to a time when Hamdan was living outside the Emirates.

Hamdan denied the charges during his first court appearance in June, 10 months after he was detained by Emirati state security forces.

On Monday, the prosecutor told a judge that Hamden — a U.S. citizen of Lebanese origins — had direct links to Ansar al-Sunnah, one of the Sunni insurgent factions associated with al-Qaida in Iraq. The prosecutor offered no further evidence, but said investigators have copies of Internet communications allegedly written by Hamdan.

The prosecutor’s name was not released by the court, citing security risks.

Hamdan, 43, attended the court session but did not speak before the presiding judge, Mohammed Yousri. The next session in the trial is scheduled for Sept. 14.

After the hearing, Hamdan told The Associated Press that he never had any contacts with Iraqi or other militant organizations.

“I have no idea what he (the prosecutor) is talking about,” Hamdan said before police officers shackled him and led him out of the Emirates’ highest court, in a batch with 14 other prisoners who were there for different proceedings.

“I was active in the Islamic community in the U.S., I had my opinions, but that’s it,” he added.

The American Civil Liberties Union has accused U.S. authorities of pushing the case in the Emirates because they lack enough evidence for American courts. The ACLU had filed a request for U.S. courts to step in and order U.S. authorities to call off the case.

But U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled earlier this month that he doesn’t have the authority to interfere in a foreign criminal prosecution.

The U.S. Embassy in the UAE has declined to comment on the case except to say that Hamdan has been given consular support. UAE officials have never commented on the case.

Hamdan moved to the U.S. as a college student, became a citizen and ran a successful auto parts business in the Los Angeles area. He also was active in the Islamic community.

He said the FBI began questioning him about whether he had terrorist ties in 1999. He decided to move his family back to the Middle East in 2006 after living in the U.S. for 20 years.

He was arrested in August 2008 and claims he was subjected to beatings, threats to his family and verbal abuse. He wrote in a note that he believes an American was present for at least some of the questioning.

In July, Hamdan’s lawyer argued with a judge in a closed-door hearing that his client was innocent and should never have been tried without sufficient evidence to support the charges.

The lawyer also told a judge that Hamdan should not be on trial in Abu Dhabi because he never committed any criminal act in the Emirates.

Hamdan, who was never charged with any crime in the U.S., blamed the United Sates for his predicament.

“I believe the U.S. is behind this ordeal,” Hamdan told the AP before he was taken back to prison Monday. “I am very disappointed. I truly don’t know where we are going with this trial, but I feel my sentence is already written.”