Brooklyn Terrorism Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

A Brooklyn College graduate who was extradited to New York from London over the weekend faces charges that he funneled military equipment to Al Qaeda forces in Pakistan.

Syed Hashmi, 27, leaned forward in his chair in a federal courtroom in Manhattan yesterday and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He had fought American efforts to extradite him for a year.

The indictment provides no description of the "military equipment" Mr. Hashmi is alleged to have given to Al Qaeda. A lawyer for Mr. Hashmi told reporters after the arraignment that what the government described as military equipment was actually "glorified camping equipment," including a sleeping bag. The lawyer, Sean Maher, cautioned that he had not yet seen the government's evidence, but was basing his assessment on what he understood American prosecutors to have told English authorities in seeking Mr. Hashmi's extradition.

Mr. Hashmi emigrated from Pakistan while he was a boy. He grew up in Flushing, graduated from Brooklyn College, and went to London to complete a master's degree in international relations at London Metropolitan University, Mr. Maher said.

"He is not a terrorist," Mr. Maher said. "He is an academic. He's been a political activist."

Mr. Maher said the government's case against Mr. Hashmi hinges on the defendant's association with a New York man, Mohammed Junaid Babar, who has already pleaded guilty to some charges that are similar to those now facing Mr. Hashmi. Babar admitted to supplying night-vision goggles, sleeping bags, socks, and ponchos to Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, according to a news report.

Mr. Hashmi is the first defendant extradited to America from England on terrorism-related charges, prosecutors said.