The United States is seeking to extradite a suspected al-Qaida terrorist imprisoned in France.
The Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed its indictment on federal terrorism charges of German citizen Christian Ganczarski, who also goes by several Arabic aliases.
The charges include conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and providing material support to al-Qaida.
Tunisia attack
Ganczarski is in prison in France for his part in a 2002 al-Qaida attack on a synagogue in Tunisia.
U.S. authorities say Ganczarski’s association with al-Qaida goes back to 1999 and that he was close to senior al-Qaida leaders. He allegedly provided them with expert guidance on computers, radio communications and weapon systems maintenance. He is said to have lived in al-Qaida camps and guest houses.
“He rubbed shoulders with Osama bin Laden and the men who planned and executed plots from the bombing of U.S. embassies in East Africa that killed 225 people to the 9/11 attacks that cost 3,000 lives,” New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill said.
9/11 attack
Ganczarski was in Germany on September 11, 2001. But according to U.S. authorities, he had been aware that a “significant event” would happen.
Ganczarski faces life in prison if extradited and tried and convicted in the United States.
