Brooklyn accountant held without bail in terror case

A Brooklyn accountant charged last month with providing computer and financial expertise to al-Qaida was held without bail Monday after prosecutors said his sophistication and his desire to wage jihad made home confinement too risky.

"This is a person who represents an extreme danger to the community and the entire country," prosecutor John Cronan told U.S. Magistrate James Francis at the arraignment of Sabirhan Hasanoff, 34, in federal court in Manhattan.

Hasanoff, 34, a well-off accountant educated at Baruch College who had a high-paying corporate job in Dubai at the time of his arrest last month, pleaded not guilty to charges of providing material support to a terrorist group at a hearing attended by two dozen friends and family members, including his pregnant wife.

Hasanoff and co-defendant Wesam el-Hanafi, 33, a technology professional, were charged with using their skills to try to help "modernize" al-Qaida, providing encryption technology, and purchasing Casio watches - sometimes used as triggering devices by terrorists - for the group.

Cronan disclosed Monday that Hasanoff and el-Hanafi had also made "international wire transfers" to assist al-Qaida, traveled to Iraq to try to wage "jihad," and sent coded messages describing plans for holy war as "safaris" and referring to imprisoned friends as being "hospitalized."

"Their wealth and their ability to move money was one of the things that made them attractive to al-Qaida," Cronan said.

Hasanoff, an ethnic Uzbek born in China, came to the United States at age 17 and is a naturalized citizen, according to his lawyer, Anthony Ricco. He worked for Price Waterhouse at one time, Ricco said, and at the time of his arrest had been living in Dubai and earning a six-figure salary as a financial officer at Rostamani Holding Co. for the last three years.