June 18, 2012 - 12:50 PM
NEW YORK, N.Y. - A U.S. man accused of conspiring to join al-Qaida and start a small al-Qaida cell has pleaded guilty.
Wesam El-Hanafi entered the plea Monday in federal court in New York.
Prosecutors say El-Hanafi pledged loyalty to al-Qaida and helped teach a group how to evade detection on the Internet after he went to Yemen in February 2008.
El-Hanafi was brought to the United States from Dubai and arrested in April 2010. He had been working in Dubai in a government job safeguarding computer systems.
Authorities say he willingly spoke to FBI agents after he realized he had been placed on a government no-fly list.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012