[Dog]

Prosecutors asserted that Benkhala has "a history of association with terror" and presented previously sealed evidence linking him to a man named Ahmed Abu-Ali, who was arrested in Saudi Arabia in the May 12 Riyadh bombings that claimed 25 victims.

Laufman said Abu-Ali, who once lived in Falls Church, joined an al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia in 2001, and was told he needed to either organize a terrorist operation or return to the United States and establish an al-Qaida cell.

Benkhala had Abu-Ali's phone number on a handwritten address list, Laufman said.

The phone list also included a contact for Ibrahim Buisir, a Libyan-born resident of Ireland who ran an Islamic charity suspected of funneling money to bin Laden, Laufman said.

[piasa]

fyi