Shahawar Matin Siraj will argue in his upcoming terrorism trial that he was goaded into plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station by a police informant out to entrap him.

An attorney for the 23-year-old Pakistani immigrant, Martin Stolar, said he will argue that the paid informant instilled in Mr. Siraj a hatred for America that led to the 2004 plot.

“He has him fired up about all the atrocities Americans are committing in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Mr. Stolar said after a court appearance yesterday by the defendant, referring to the sway the informant held over Mr. Siraj. “For someone beginning to learn about Islam in a serious way, he made him angry at America.”

Mr. Siraj is alleged to have told the informant that he was “ready for jihad.”

Mr. Siraj and a second defendant, James Elshafay, are not thought to have come close to executing the alleged plot. Mr. Siraj, who was arrested in August 2004, was led to believe the police informant would supply the explosives required to carry out the attack, according to court documents.

An assistant U.S. attorney, Todd Harrison, indicated that he will not likely dwell on any political beliefs held by Mr. Siraj in the coming trial.

“This has nothing to do with politics,” Mr. Harrison said yesterday in court. “This case has nothing to do with the war in Iraq. Frankly, there are no allegations of terrorism. … We are not alleging he was part of Al Qaeda.”

The trial is scheduled to begin April 24 in the courtroom of Judge Nina Gershon at the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.