[JURIST] Lawyers for two of the seven men indicted [JURIST report] last week on terrorism charges for allegedly conspiring to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago and the FBI headquarters in Miami said Monday that their clients were entrapped by an FBI informant posing as an al Qaeda operative. Albert Levin, the court-appointed attorney for Patrick Abraham, told Bill O'Reilly [media website] of Fox News that the informant spoke to Abraham much more than Abraham spoke to the informant.

A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment [PDF text; DOJ press release] last week charging the seven defendants with conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda; conspiring to provide material support, training, and resources to terrorists; conspiring to maliciously damage and destroy by means of an explosive; and conspiring to levy war against the government of the United States. The indictment alleges that Narseal Batiste recruited the six other defendants to "organize and train for a mission to wage war against the United States government," and that they pledged an oath to al Qaeda in an attempt to secure financial and logistical backing. Reuters has more.