A federal magistrate judge in Manhattan refused to grant bail yesterday to a Pakistani man charged with assisting Al Qaeda, despite his lawyer’s offer of a $2.5 million bond and arguments that his client had family ties in the New York area and did not pose a threat. The defendant, Uzair Paracha, 23, has been accused of meeting with Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, and agreeing to help one of them fraudulently obtain immigration documents to re-enter the United States. After Mr. Paracha arrived in the United States, the government says, he posed as one of the operatives in an effort to obtain the documents. Citing the allegations, the judge, Andrew J. Peck, said, “For reasons known only to Mr. Paracha, he knowingly gave some assistance to Al Qaeda — and post-Sept. 11, if that’s not a danger to the community, I don’t know what is.” Full Story
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