In addition to the case against three Brooklyn men who were arrested this week and accused of plotting to join the Islamic State in Syria, there is also a trial going on for an accused Al Qaeda terrorist who had allegedly been plotting to bomb the subway. Accused terrorist Abid Naseer defended himself in court yesterday, saying that he was never sending coded messages to his terror supervisor—he was just bragging about his skills with the ladies.
Naseer, 28, who has represented himself in the trial, testified over the course of Wednesday and Thursday about his alleged involvement in a plot to bomb a British shopping mall as well as the NYC subway and a Danish newspaper. The Times reports:
Mr. Naseer said he was just an overseas student, studying, going to mosque and chatting online with women. His emails to a friend who used the address [email protected] bragged about the women he had met, he said.
Prosecutors have argued that the email address was that of a handler with Al Qaeda and that the emails with women’s names were code words in the bombing plot.
The prosecution argued that those female names, including "Huma" and "Nadia," referred to specific types of weapons/bombs, and terms like "marriage" and "wedding" referred to specific operations. "There is going to be a huge party for everyone,” one such message read. "I wish you could be here to enjoy the party."
"Nadia is more gorgeous than Huma at the moment," he wrote in another message. "She was easy to befriend…she will suit me at the moment."
Naseer maintained that he was just excited to get married, and had created 10 email addresses to lure prospective brides on several online dating sites and in chat rooms. But prosecutor Celia Cohen pressed him on the emails and ultimately established that the only other person who corresponded with the [email protected] email address was convicted Queens subway bomb plotter Najibullah Zazi.
