Five Americans sentenced 10 year jail over terror charges in Pakistan

SLAMABAD, June 24 (Xinhua) -- An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan Thursday awarded 10-year jail term each to five American citizens over terror charges, a government lawyer said.

They had been arrested from a house in the Pakistani city of Sargodha in Punjab in Dec. 2009.

The police accused them of having links with Pakistani militants groups and were planning terror attacks. They had denied the charges and had told the court that they wanted to go to Afghanistan to help the sick people.

Rana Bakhtiar Ali, Deputy prosecutor general of Punjab province, told media that the five Americans were convicted on two charges each, one carrying a 10-year jail term and the other carrying five years, to be served concurrently.

The anti-terror court judge Anwar Aziz announced the verdict inside the prison in Sargodha in the presence of diplomats from the American embassy, Ali told reporters after the verdict was announced.

The convicts were also fined 70,000 rupees (about 820 U.S. dollars)apiece.

The men have been identified as Ramy Zamzam of Egyptian descent, Waqar Khan and Umar Farooq of Pakistani descent, and Aman Hassan Yemer and Ahmed Minni of Ethiopian descent.

The judge found all the five American citizens guilty of having links with terrorist groups in Pakistan.

According to the court decision, they have rights to file an appeal against the decision in the Lahore High Court. An attorney for the Americans said they would appeal the verdict to the High Court.

The U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials interrogated the arrested, local TV channel Express reported.

Prosecutors said they have presented evidence such as e-mail records and witness statements backing up their contention the men were plotting terror attacks in Pakistan.

Police deployed extra patrols and barriers around the local court ahead of verdict in the trial in Sargodha. The road in front of the court building was blocked off, while police vehicles swarmed the scene, according to the private TV ARY News.

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