(AP) It was almost 15 years ago when five young men from northern Virginia left the U.S. to pursue dreams of jihad in Afghanistan, only to find themselves under arrest in Pakistan when their farewell video prompted family members to contact the FBI.
Now, after the five served a decade in a Pakistani prison, U.S. prosecutors are moving forward with plans to put them on trial again for terrorism charges.
At a status hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, however, a judge gave strong indications that she plans to toss out charges against one of the men on grounds that torture and solitary confinement he allegedly endured in Pakistan have rendered him mentally incompetent.
