Pakistan pursues terror trial of American-born physician
He and his family accused of harboring al Qaeda operatives. Pakistani authorities accused a naturalized American doctor and his family of links to high-level al Qaeda operatives in an ongoing government crackdown on terrorism. On Tuesday, an anti-terrorism court ordered Dr. Ahmed Javed Khawaja and his brother Ahmad Naveed Khawaja to stand trial at a later date. “Al Qaeda’s most wanted terrorists were being harbored and facilitated at the Manawa compound owned by Dr. Ahmed Javed Khawaja and his family,” said Deputy Attorney General Sher Zaman. Khawaja, a gastroenterologist who lived in the United States from 1972 to 1983, and his two American-born sons have been in custody since a Dec. 19 midnight raid by intelligence agents of their home in this small village near the eastern city of Lahore. Khawaja’s brother and a nephew — both Canadian citizens — also were detained. Full Story