US indicts alleged al Qaeda operative

Harun, who was born in Saudi Arabia, but claims Niger citizenship, was apprehended in Libya in 2005, but the government released him in June 2011, according to the Justice Department.

He was then arrested by Italian authorities on board a refugee ship, and was indicted by the United States in February 2012. Italy extradited him to the United States on Oct. 4, 2012.

Harun faces life in prison if convicted.

U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement that Harun was a “prototype al Qaeda operative.”

The unsealed indictment comes two weeks after U.S. authorities charged Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a relative of Osama bin Laden, in federal court after he was detained in Jordan.

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