ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Virginia man was charged yesterday with plotting with Al Qaeda to kill President Bush in a conspiracy prosecutors said was hatched while the man studied in Saudi Arabia.

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, an American citizen, had been held without charges in Saudi Arabia since June 2003. He was returned to America and made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court shortly after his arrival yesterday morning at Dulles International Airport.

He did not enter a plea but contended he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars.

Before the indictment, a lawsuit filed on behalf of Mr. Abu Ali claimed American officials had Saudi authorities detain him so he could be harshly interrogated. Federal prosecutors have been fighting attempts to get the government to disclose why he was being held in Saudi Arabia.

According to the indictment, Mr. Abu Ali discussed Bush-assassination plans with an unidentified Al Qaeda member in 2002 and 2003, while Mr. Abu Ali was attending college in Saudi Arabia.

They discussed two scenarios, the indictment said, one in which Mr. Abu Ali “would get close enough to the president to shoot him on the street” and, alternatively,” an operation in which Abu Ali would detonate a car bomb.”

While the indictment does not identify the conspirator, it says he was one of 19 people publicly identified by the Saudi government in 2003 as terrorists.

The only other detail of the alleged plot in the indictment states that Mr. Abu Ali received a religious blessing from another unidentified conspirator to assassinate the president.

The White House had no comment on the indictment, referring questions to the Justice Department.

U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty said in a statement that “after the devastating terrorist attack … of September 11, this defendant turned his back on America and joined the cause of Al Qaeda. He now stands charged with some of the most serious offenses our nation can bring against supporters of terrorism.”

More than 100 friends and relatives jammed the courthouse to show their support for Mr. Abu Ali. Many of them laughed in the courtroom when government lawyers described the alleged assassination plot.

“It’s lies. It’s all lies,” his father Omar Abu Ali, a Falls Church, Va., resident, said after the hearing. “The government lied from the very first day.”

Mr. Abu Ali’s lawyer, Edward MacMahon, said after the hearing that his client will plead innocent. Mr. MacMahon said he saw the scars on Mr. Abu Ali’s back and accused the government of relying on information obtained through torture.

“He expects a fair trial in which he will be vindicated,” Mr. MacMahon said. “Evidence that comes through torture is the most unreliable evidence.”

During the hearing, Mr. Abu Ali asked to speak to the judge. U.S. Magistrate Liam O’Grady suggested he consult with his attorney, who then relayed Mr. Abu Ali’s claims of torture.

When Mr. Abu Ali offered to show the judge his back, Mr. O’Grady said that he may be able to do so on Thursday at a detention hearing, in which his lawyers will seek his release pending trial.

“I can assure you you will not suffer any torture or humiliation while in the marshals’ custody,” Mr. O’Grady said.

The Abu Alis have fought for nearly two years to have their son returned. They sued the American government, alleging that the Saudis were detaining the young man at the behest of the U.S. government.

The judge dealing with the family’s lawsuit against the government never issued an order demanding Mr. Abu Ali’s return, but had said the family provided “considerable” evidence that the American government orchestrated his arrest.

Mr. Abu Ali was born in Houston and moved to Falls Church, a Washington suburb. He was valedictorian of the Islamic Saudi Academy in nearby Alexandria, Va.

“He was very wise, very mature for his age,” said Jamal Abdulmoty, who knew Mr. Abu Ali through their shared involvement in northern Virginia’s Muslim community. “We cannot imagine” that he would be involved in an assassination plot.