A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered a suspected American "jihadist," accused of training with al Qaeda and conspiring to make and use bombs in Somalia, jailed without bail. U.S. Magistrate Calvin Botley ruled prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to support the charges against Daniel Joseph Maldonado, also known as Daniel Aljughaifi.U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said the case would be presented to a grand jury for possible indictment, the next step in the prosecution, by March 13. According to the FBI, Maldonado, 28, was living in Houston in 2005 when he and his wife and three young children moved to Egypt and then in late 2006 to Somalia so that he could join the fight for an Islamic government there.
Maldonado's court-appointed lawyer challenged the strength of the evidence against the defendant and forced the hearing into a second day so he could review statements prosecutors say were hand-written by Maldonado. Maldonado was arrested by Kenyan authorities on January 21 after he and other suspected jihadists, or Muslims engaged in jihad or holy war, fled into Kenya to escape troops from the U.S.-backed Somali government and Ethiopia, which was supporting the government against Islamic militants.