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Investigation: Charges filed; arrest warrant issued

Attorney General John Ashcroft speaking at a recent news conference.

SUMMARY:

A college student arrested in San Diego last month was charged with two counts of lying to a grand jury about his knowledge of two suspected hijackers implicated in last month's terrorist attacks, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday.

Also on Friday, German authorities issued an arrest warrant for a 24-year-old Moroccan, accusing him of founding a terrorist group and mass murder in connection with last month's terrorist attacks against the United States.

British police say they are investigating more than 20 people at the request of the FBI as part of its hunt for those behind the September 11 attacks.

Four men convicted of carrying out Osama bin Laden's edict to kill Americans were sentenced Thursday in New York to life in prison without parole for their roles in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

UPDATE:

The man facing charges, Osama Awadallah, 21, a Jordanian who is a permanent resident of the United States, was one of three college students picked up a month ago by the FBI and held as material witnesses in connection with the September 11 attacks. Defense attorneys maintain that Awadallah, as well as the two other men, had nothing to do with the attacks. (Full story)

The German federal prosecutor identified the man as Zakariya Essabar. The prosecutors office said he worked with some of hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks in founding a terrorist group. (Full story)

•  Summary   •  Update   •  Key questions   •  Who's who   •  Impact  CNN.COM SPECIAL REPORT  CNN NewsPass Video  Agencies reportedly got hijack tips in 1998  MORE STORIES Intelligence intercept led to Buffalo suspects Report cites warnings before 9/11  EXTRA INFORMATION Timeline: Who Knew What and When? Interactive: Terror Investigation Terror Warnings System Most wanted terrorists What looks suspicious? In-Depth: America Remembers In-Depth: Terror on Tape In-Depth: How prepared is your city?  RESOURCES On the Scene: Barbara Starr: Al Qaeda hunt expands? On the Scene: Peter Bergen: Getting al Qaeda to talk

Detective Chief Superintendent John Bunn, of Scotland Yard's antiterrorist branch, told reporters on Thursday that the FBI had made more than 200 requests for help to British police and about 24 names were being checked out. (Full story)

Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, a 28-year-old Tanzanian, had been found guilty of carrying out the truck bomb attack at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on August 7, 1998, and murdering the 11 people who died there. Mohamed rented the house where the bomb was assembled and TNT was ground for it.

Also sentenced were Mohamed al-'Owhali and Mohamed Odeh, the two men with a hands-on role in the suicide truck bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya on the same day as the Tanzania attack. They were convicted of murdering the 213 people killed in that blast. Al-'Owhali is a 24-year-old Saudi and Odeh is a 36-year-old Jordanian.

Wadih el Hage, a 41-year-old naturalized American of Lebanese descent, was also sentenced to life. He is a longtime aide to bin Laden. El Hage was convicted of taking part in a conspiracy to kill Americans and to destroy U.S. property. (Full story)

KEY QUESTIONS:

What are investigators learning of the financial contributions collected by terrorist organizations?

How will the expansion of law-enforcement powers affect Americans' civil liberties? Click here for more.

How long can suspects be held, and on what charges are they being held? Click here for more.

How are people identified as suspected terrorists communicating with each other? Click here for more.

How are law-enforcement authorities using technology such as encryption tools to hunt terrorists? Click here for more.

What groups are U.S. investigators focusing on, and what are their aims? Click here for more.

How would law-enforcement authorities go after financial assets of people identified as terrorists? Click here for more.

WHO'S WHO:

George W. Bush: U.S. president

Colin Powell: U.S. secretary of state Click here for more

Condoleezza Rice: National security adviser Click here for more

John Ashcroft: U.S. attorney general

Robert Mueller: FBI director Click here for more

George Tenet: CIA director. Click here for more

Osama bin Laden: U.S. authorities have named bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi exile living in Afghanistan, as the prime suspect in masterminding the September 11 attacks. Click here for more

IMPACT:

Information gained from the investigation could lead to fundamental changes in U.S. security and intelligence systems, as well as surveillance laws.