Mother of Virginia man arrested in Pakistan says he and 4 others were beaten by authorities

Va. mom says arrested son was beaten in Pakistan

WASHINGTON — The mother of one of five northern Virginians about to go on trial for planning terrorist acts in Pakistan says authorities there obtained confessions through torture.

Amal Khalifa of Alexandria is the mother of Ramy Zamzam, one of the five young men whose trial starts Saturday.

In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, Khalifa says she was allowed a one-hour visit with her son on a recent trip to Pakistan. She described him as looking like a skeleton. He described to her beatings that were inflicted on all five.

She says Zamzam and the others were there to attend a wedding. She says her son, a first-year dental student, was too busy with school to be a radical jihadist.

Pakistani authorities have denied that the men were mistreated.