Kashmiri terrorist accomplice of shoe bomber convicted
3 sentenced in France for Kashmir terrorism links
The Associated Press
FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2005
PARIS A Pakistani man who was linked to a Kashmir Islamic separatist group, and who had contacts with Richard Reid, was sentenced to five years in prison by a French court on Thursday.
Reid, a Briton, is serving a life sentence in the United States for attempting to detonate a shoe bomb aboard a flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001.
The court ordered four-year terms for two others who trained for activities in Kashmir.
The three men had initially been suspected of providing logistical support to Reid. But the investigation did not bear those suspicions out.
The court sentenced Ghulam Rama, 67, to five years in prison - short of the seven-year sentence requested by the state prosecutor. Two men who trained in camps of the Lashkar e-Tayyiba group, an Islamic rebel movement in Kashmir, were given four-year prison terms.
The trial, which began May 11, focused on Rama, a Pakistani who headed the Chemin Droit, or Straight Path, aid group in France.
The prosecution alleged that he served as a link in France to the Lashkar e-Tayyiba group, which is fighting for independence in India's portion of Kashmir.
Rama served as a spiritual guide for Hassan el-Cheguer and Hakim Mokhfi, two 31-year-old French citizens who trained in Lashkar e-Tayyiba camps in Kashmir, the prosecution said.
The men left to train for jihad, or crusade, with Rama's help.
However, Rama also had links to Reid.
A prosecutor, Sonya Djemni-Wagner, told the court last month that Rama was not linked to the failed trans-Atlantic attack, "but he met him, helped him" on French territory "and served as a compass."
Reid, she said, "needed a guide."
Rama, described by the prosecutor as "an educated man from a well-off family," denied the charges.
Rama, Cheguer and Mokhfi, all arrested in 2002, were charged with criminal association with a terrorist enterprise and risked up to 10 years each in prison.
A fourth man, Kamel Lakhram, was given a three-month prison sentence for being in France illegally. But the time has been served.
The Associated Press
FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2005
PARIS A Pakistani man who was linked to a Kashmir Islamic separatist group, and who had contacts with Richard Reid, was sentenced to five years in prison by a French court on Thursday.
Reid, a Briton, is serving a life sentence in the United States for attempting to detonate a shoe bomb aboard a flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001.
The court ordered four-year terms for two others who trained for activities in Kashmir.
The three men had initially been suspected of providing logistical support to Reid. But the investigation did not bear those suspicions out.
The court sentenced Ghulam Rama, 67, to five years in prison - short of the seven-year sentence requested by the state prosecutor. Two men who trained in camps of the Lashkar e-Tayyiba group, an Islamic rebel movement in Kashmir, were given four-year prison terms.
The trial, which began May 11, focused on Rama, a Pakistani who headed the Chemin Droit, or Straight Path, aid group in France.
The prosecution alleged that he served as a link in France to the Lashkar e-Tayyiba group, which is fighting for independence in India's portion of Kashmir.
Rama served as a spiritual guide for Hassan el-Cheguer and Hakim Mokhfi, two 31-year-old French citizens who trained in Lashkar e-Tayyiba camps in Kashmir, the prosecution said.
The men left to train for jihad, or crusade, with Rama's help.
However, Rama also had links to Reid.
A prosecutor, Sonya Djemni-Wagner, told the court last month that Rama was not linked to the failed trans-Atlantic attack, "but he met him, helped him" on French territory "and served as a compass."
Reid, she said, "needed a guide."
Rama, described by the prosecutor as "an educated man from a well-off family," denied the charges.
Rama, Cheguer and Mokhfi, all arrested in 2002, were charged with criminal association with a terrorist enterprise and risked up to 10 years each in prison.
A fourth man, Kamel Lakhram, was given a three-month prison sentence for being in France illegally. But the time has been served.
posted by India News Watch at 5:56 PM
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