May 26 (Bloomberg) — A U.S. citizen charged with conspiring to provide support to al-Qaeda and creating his “own mini-terror cell” was ordered held without bail after he pleaded not guilty in federal court in New York.

Wesam El-Hanafi, 35, poses a danger to the community and is a flight risk, U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman in Manhattan said today at his arraignment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cronan said El-Hanafi, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, was “turned on” to al-Qaeda while living in the U.S. and traveled to Yemen in February 2008 to meet the network’s senior leaders.

“Mr. El-Hanafi joined the group and he provided very real support to them,” Cronan said. “This is someone who knowingly joined a group whose purpose is to attack America.”

El-Hanafi and co-defendant Sabirhan Hasanoff, 34, are charged with agreeing to provide support to a known terror group, the U.S. said in an indictment. If convicted, both men face as long as 15 years in prison.

While in Yemen, El-Hanafi was taken to an al-Qaeda safe house with a hood over his head and met with two senior leaders. Once there, El-Hanafi took an oath of allegiance, called a bayat, to join the group, Cronan said.

Upon his return to the U.S., El-Hanafi “basically formed his own mini-terror cell,” recruiting Hasanoff, Cronan said.

Encrypted Software

The government said it has a cooperating witness who can testify that El-Hanafi provided encrypted software that allowed the group to communicate over the Internet without detection and mask websites and e-mail addresses.

El-Hanafi communicated with other al-Qaeda members through prepaid mobile phones, which he discarded regularly, and sent as much as $45,000 at a time by wiring funds or using a courier, Cronan said.

Cronan said El-Hanafi and Hasanoff provided computer advice to the group and that El-Hanafi also bought seven Casio digital watches over the Internet on behalf of al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda members have used Casio watches on detonators, prosecutors said. Ramzi Yousef, convicted of planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York, used a Casio watch in 1994 in a bomb that downed a jetliner in the Philippines.

Jane Anne Murray, El-Hanafi’s lawyer, argued her client should be released on bond and kept under house arrest at his family’s home in Brooklyn.

Dubai Job

With his family, including his wife and three children, living in New York, El-Hanafi has very strong ties to the U.S., Murray said. She also argued he didn’t have the wherewithal to flee the U.S., saying he lost a job he held in Dubai.

“Were he confined to his family’s apartment, he couldn’t be in a position to engage in activities alleged in the indictment,” she said.

Freeman said the government’s evidence convinced her there was no set of circumstances that could guarantee the public’s safety if El-Hanafi was released or prevent him from fleeing.

“The nature of these charges raise a very large specter of a danger to the community,” Freeman said. “I have determined that detention is warranted.”

At a May 17 hearing, Hasanoff was ordered held without bail. Both men are scheduled to appear June 1 before U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood, Cronan said.

The case is U.S. v. El-Hanafi, 10-cr-00162, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in federal courthouse at pathurtado@bloomberg.net.