Two Britons to plead guilty to terror charges in U.S. court

[December 06, 2013]  (Reuters) — Two Britons facing trial in the United States for charges of supporting militant groups including al Qaeda by operating websites promoting jihad plan to change their pleas to guilty next week, court papers filed on Thursday showed.

The men, Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan, faced trial on charges including providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to injure the property of a foreign government for running a website that U.S. prosecutors contended raised funds for Muslim militants in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

The two were extradited to the United States from Britain last year for trial and had entered not guilty pleas to all charges in U.S. District Court in Connecticut. They are due in court in New Haven on Wednesday for a change of plea hearing.

Ahmad had also been charged with a count of money laundering.

They were among five men extradited to the United States from Britain last year to face terrorism-related charges. That group also included one-eyed radical Islamist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri on charges related to a 1998 hostage-taking in Yemen.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; editing by Cynthia Johnston, Bernard Orr)