Two British men who pleaded guilty to raising money for the Taliban go to a US court on Friday, seeking access to secret documents about a witness whose testimony could influence how long they spend in prison.

Thirty-nine-year-old Babar Ahmad and 34-year-old Syed Talha Ahsan have argued in papers filed in US district court in New Haven, Connecticut, that they have a right to more information on the witness, British citizen Saajid Badat.

On Friday, Badat told a New York judge in a separate case he does not want to testify in the US. Speaking via a video link, he said he believes he would be arrested if he came to America. Badat was indicted in 2004 in Boston on charges he conspired with Richard Reid, another Briton, who tried to blow up a passenger jet with a shoe bomb.

Federal judge Katherine Forrest is considering whether to allow Badat's testimony at the upcoming trial of Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, who is charged with conspiring to support al-Qaida.



According to prosecutors in the Connecticut case, Badat was recruited into al-Qaida as a result of Ahmad's work.

Prosecutors have argued that the sealed documents defence lawyers are requesting are too "sensitive" to release, while the defence contends that they could show that Badat would be willing to lie about their clients.

"The witness has perhaps the greatest incentive to lie and the greatest need for effective confrontation," the lawyers said in court papers. They noted that the witness served less than seven years in prison and has not been extradited to face charges in the US.

Tom Carson, a spokesman for the US attorney's office in Connecticut, confirmed that Badat was the witness in question. Prosecutors plan to interview Badat before Ahmad and Ahsan are sentenced.

"The witness ultimately moved on from [recruitment by] Ahmad and came under the mentorship and training of actual al-Qaida members who trained and prepared him for al-Qaida's so-called 'shoe-bomb' plot," prosecutors argued in court papers requesting that Badat be interviewed in Britain.

Ahmad and Ahsan in December pleaded guilty to running the azzam.com web site, which raised money for the Taliban. They were prosecuted in Connecticut because US officials in the state played a key role in the investigation.

Ahmad faces up to 25 years in prison and two to five years' probation. Ahsan faces up to 15 years in prison and up to five years' probation. Each could be fined up to $500,000.

• This article was amended on 22 April 2014. An earlier version said Ahmad and Ahsan had pleaded guilty to raising money for al-Qaida and the Taliban. To clarify, they were charged with conspiring to provide, and providing, material support to terrorists. The indictments alleged that they were members of a group that supported the Chechen mujahideen, the Taliban and associated groups through various means and noted that during the times relevant to the indictments the Taliban allowed territory under its control in Afghanistan to be used as a base of operations for al-Qaida.