The suspects in court  ALSO: Pentagon offers pictures, but few answers, on terrorist camp - January 14, 1999

January 14, 1999
Web posted at: 7:21 p.m. EST (0021 GMT)

• Salim denies being part of bin Laden network
• Poster printed in five languages
• Related stories and sites

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A suspect accused of helping alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden finance deadly bombings in East Africa last August pleaded not guilty in a New York courtroom Thursday.

Mahdouh Mahmud Salim is charged with one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, a charge that does not carry the death penalty. He was arrested in Germany last September and extradited to the United States in December.

Prosecutors say Salim has financial dealings with bin Laden's alleged terrorist network, including transporting currency. He also helped transport weapons to bin Laden, prosecutors say, and tried to get both conventional weapons and nuclear components.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has begun distributing worldwide a wanted poster for bin Laden -- the top line of which features the world "murder" in bold, red letters.

"We believe people need a visual reminder of the up to $5 million reward for bin Laden and the fact that he is a very dangerous terrorist wanted for committing truly heinous crimes," said State Department spokesman Andy Blaine. "He needs to be brought to justice."

On August 7, two car bombs exploded nearly simultaneously outside U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans. U.S. officials have pointed the finger at bin Laden's organization, based in Afghanistan.

Salim denies being part of bin Laden network

While Salim has admitted meeting bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s and working as a low-level manager for one of his Sudanese companies in the early 1990s, he says he split with bin Laden in 1994 and had nothing to do with the bombings.

When Salim was questioned by the FBI in Germany after he was arrested, he declared his innocence in a note obtained by CNN: "You are collecting information and people who are very normal, calm, decent, who have nothing to do with terrorism."

On Thursday, three others charged in connection with the blasts -- Wadih El Hage, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh and Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali -- appeared in court with Salim for a pretrial proceeding. They had previously pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the blasts.

Still at large are eight others who have been indicted but not captured -- bin Laden, two suspects implicated in both the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings and five others accused only in the Tanzania blast.

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald indicated in court Thursday that the United States was trying to extradite and charge one more suspect, Khaled Al-Fawwaz, who is now in London.

Poster printed in five languages

The State Department will be working with host governments in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East to display the bin Laden wanted posters in public places. The posters are printed in five languages -- English, Arabic, French and two Pakistani dialects, Dari and Baluchi.

Ironically, the posters are unlikely to be displayed in Afghanistan, where bin Laden is believed to have his base, because the United States closed its embassy there in 1989, Blaine said.

In addition to bin Laden, the poster also seeks information on the man believed to be his military chief, Muhammad Atef. The poster also offers people who provide information protection and relocation of themselves and their families.