US federal prosecutors have sought to link a Libyan living in Dublin to an alleged Islamic terrorist cell operating in the US capital.
At a court hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday, Assistant US Attorney Mr David Laufman said that Mr Sabri Benkhala, one of the accused in an upcoming terrorism trial, had a handwritten phone book.
He said this book included a contact for Mr Ibrahim Buisir, whom Mr Laufman described as a Libyan-born resident of Ireland who ran Mercy International Relief Agency, an Islamic charity suspected of funnelling money to Osama bin Laden.
One of Mercy International's directors was Dr Safir al Hawali, Bin Laden's mentor and the cleric Bin Laden relies on to justify his attacks on US targets.
One of its Dublin operatives, Mr Hamid Aich, is on the run, wanted by Canadian police for questioning about an attempted car-bombing of millennium celebrations in Seattle, Washington.
However, in the Alexandria case, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that the US government had not shown sufficient evidence to keep Mr Benkhala in custody until his trial date.
Mr Benkhala was released to home detention at his father's house in Falls Church, Virginia, which upheld a previous release order issued by a magistrate.
Mr Buisir, who is married with four children, strongly denies any involvement in terrorism.
His last known address was in a south Dublin suburb and in recent years he was a highly visible figure in the city's Muslim community.
He was an executive member of a well-respected Irish-Islamic representative group and was a director of the Irish branch of an Islamic charity which worked with Unicef.
The Alexandria prosecutors, who have accused nine US citizens and two other men of conspiring to join a Muslim terror group, presented the address book reference to Mr Buisir on Friday.
Mr Benkhala, a US citizen, is accused of training to join a Pakistani terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.
Mr Laufman told the court that Mr Benkhala and the other suspects aimed to fight alongside the Taliban against Americans after the attacks on September 11th, 2001.
He said that Mr Benkhala had "a history of association with terror" and presented previously sealed evidence linking him to a man named Mr Ahmed Abu-Ali, who was arrested in Saudi Arabia in connection with the May 12th Riyadh bombings which claimed 25 victims, and to Mr Buisir.
Mr Benkhala's father strongly rejected claims that his son was involved in terrorism and said he was a peace-loving man.