Malawi-born man in US terror case
Saajid Badat, identified as a Malawi-born Briton, this week testified in a United States of America (USA) court in a case where Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, son-in-law of Al Qaeda founder the late Osama bin Laden, is answering treason charges.
Malawi Immigration Department yesterday said it needs more time to check the particulars of Badat and find out when he left the country.
“[We] received the questionnaire, thanks. We are currently looking into the issue [and] will come back to you later,” said Immigration spokesperson Martha Gonondo.
But England’s Daily Mail newspaper of March 12 2014 reported that Badat, 34, who now resides in the United Kingdom (UK), told the court about his terrorist activities, especially that he wore a shoe bomb on a plane to the UK.
He was convicted and served six of his 13-year jail sentence in prison in the UK for plotting to bring down an American Airline flight from Paris in France to Miami in the USA with explosives hidden in his shoes.
In his testimony via video link from Britain, Badat told the USA terror trial court how he travelled with a shoe bomb from Pakistan to Holland and then to UK. He reported enthusiasm among recruits to Al Qaeda after the September 11, 2001 attack in the USA.
Asked by a prosecutor if the death of over 3 000 Americans (in the attack) was humorous, Badat replied: “Unfortunately, yes.”
He disclosed that he saw bin Laden, who had been urging him to carry out terror attacks, between 30 and 50 times in Al Qaeda training camps.
Three world leaders, former USA presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and former Israel prime minister Ariel Sharon were the targets, according to Badat.
