Homeless Iranian woman charged in US terror case

NEW YORK - An Iranian woman now living in a homeless shelter in Manhattan, was once a leader in a terrorist group based in Iraq trying to overthrow the Tehran government, federal authorities said in court documents on Monday.

Federal authorities claim that between 1999 and March this year Zeinab Taleb-Jedi, a naturalised US citizen, was a leader in the Mujahedin-e Khalq and her role included "making leadership decisions" and "approving specific acts of terrorism".

The Mujahedin-e Khalq was designated a foreign terrorist organisation in 1997 by the US State Department.

Taleb-Jedi was among 200 of the group's members questioned by American authorities at a base in Iraq in February 2004 after the US military seized it, according to the court documents.

In some of the base's 100 bunkers, along with mortars, rockets and missile launchers, was 420,000 pounds of plastic explosives, the documents showed.

During questioning, Taleb-Jedi said she did not want to return to America because she "wholeheartedly supports the Mujahedin", the documents said.

She was arrested on March 31 when she tried to enter the United States through New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on a flight from Jordan.

She was released on a US$500,000 ($781,983) bond and has been staying at a homeless shelter in New York City, the documents say.

She is charged with providing material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organisation and faces up to 15 years in prison.

- REUTERS