Pak: GEO reporter in OH jail on terrorism charges?

Pak Journalist in US jail on Terrorism charges.

Well, well, well. What's up with this do you think?

Nayyar Zaidi, the well-known US-based Pakistani-American journalist, who has been a citizen of the United States for more than 30 years has been in US custody for the last four months on what are said to be terrorism-related charges. According to one report, Zaidi is being held on the charge of “obstruction of justice”, a very serious offence. He is also said to be awaiting a trial. The Homeland Security Department or the FBI have made no announcement about his arrest or incarceration. His family, when asked for his whereabouts, has continued to claim that “he is in Pakistan”. The Pakistan embassy, like Zaidi’s journalist colleagues, who have repeatedly phoned the family, has also been given the same answer. When asked why he is in Pakistan and what has taken him there or how long he is to be away, the callers have been told, “We cannot say” or “We do not know.” The news of Zaidi’s arrest – he is believed to be in an Ohio prison – was broken by the New Jersey-based website Des Prades at the weekend.

The original blog report can be found here at Oscar Tango. (Paging Twinster! He's supposedly being held at a Correctional Facility in Youngstown OH!)

Mr Zaidi said he had gone to Ohio to pursue his journalistic "obstruction of justice" research against those individuals who are being detained there from "all over the world". Unfortunately, he ended up being detained himself in the same facility, he said. He is awaiting trial now in which he is the defendent.(sic)

The Pakistan embassy was evidently unaware of Zaidi's confinement.

I then called the Press Attache of the Pakistan embassy in Washington. Mr Kiani, who happens to be the press attache, told me that he found out about Mr Zaidi's detention today only from the ambasaddor Mr. Hussain Haqaani who found out from Pakistan, he claimed.

Hmmm.