LAHORE, 6 June 2003 — A Pakistani national who was cleared of terrorism charges and alleged links with Al-Qaeda after being jailed for months accused the United States on Wednesday of mistreating Muslims around the world.
Dr. Ahmad Javed Khawaja and his brother, Ahmed Naveed Khawaja, a Canadian national, were freed Monday after an anti-terrorism court acquitted them of several charges. “America right now is openly involved in terrorism,” Ahmad Javed Khawaja told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore. “What the US is doing right now is not different from terrorism. Everybody can see and feel it.”
“They actually want to destroy the power and money of the Muslims. They want to use it for their own interest,” he said. The Khawaja brothers; Ahmad Javed’s two sons, who are both American nationals; and a nephew who also is Canadian were taken from their family home near Lahore in December and jailed. Initially, the five relatives were charged with harboring Al-Qaeda suspects, but in April the local anti-terrorism court dropped the Al-Qaeda-related charges when the prosecution failed to provide evidence of their links with the terror network. Defense lawyers had repeatedly said Ahmad Javed Khawaja was an American citizen, but on Wednesday the doctor said he did not have US citizenship. “I lived in America for 15 years, but I never applied for US citizenship,” said Khawaja, who is a gastroenterologist.
While the sons and nephew were released earlier, Ahmad Javed Khawaja and his brother were held on the lesser charges of possessing illegal weapons and resisting arrest. Last week, they were acquitted of those charges, too, and released on Monday.
“Thank God that the testing time is over and we are free,” Ahmad Javed Khawaja said at a news conference. “God had written this test in our destiny,” he said, wearing traditional loose Pakistani trousers, known as shalwar, a long shirt, or kamiz, and a white prayer cap. His brother sat next to him, accompanied by their lawyers.
The attorneys advised the brothers not to discuss the Al-Qaeda terror network, its leader, Osama bin Laden, or visits taken to neighboring Afghanistan.
“The FBI interrogators had only one thing to ask us repeatedly which was about Arab nationals and Al-Qaeda operatives,” Ahmad Javed Khawaja said. “They asked us what we knew about them. They wanted to know where they are hiding in Pakistan.”
“But the interrogators knew it at a very early stage that we had nothing to tell them. We did not have any information they wanted,” he said.
