A high school honours student pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he helped the US terrorist called "Jihad Jane" raise money and recruits for a Muslim holy war. The 18-year-old Mohammad Hassan Khalid entered the plea at his first public court appearance since his July 6 arrest.
The reed-thin, serious-looking young man appeared older than his years. He had no family or friends in the Philadelphia courtroom. His parents, legal US residents from Pakistan who had pushed their four children to excel in school, were working, a defence lawyer said.
Federal prosecutors allege that Khalid tried to recruit men to wage a holy war in Europe and South Asia, and women with passports who could travel there. He had met a middle-aged woman, Colleen LaRose, in online chat rooms when he was about 15, according to last week's indictment. LaRose was being watched by the FBI after posting YouTube videos in which she called herself "Jihad Jane" and vowed to kill or die for the jihadist cause.
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