An American citizen will go to trial in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday on charges that he supported al-Qaida and helped prepare a 2009 car bomb attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.
Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh, 31, has pleaded not guilty to charges that include conspiring to murder Americans and use a weapon of mass destruction, and supporting a foreign terrorist organization. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Jurors were scheduled to hear opening arguments in the case Tuesday morning. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last two weeks.
U.S. prosecutors in 2015 accused Al Farekh, who was born in Texas, of conspiring to support al-Qaida by traveling with two fellow students from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada to Pakistan with the intention of fighting against American forces.
They also charged that Al Farekh helped
