<p>An Afghan man pleaded not guilty on Monday in Manhattan federal court to six counts related to the 2008 kidnapping of a US journalist and two Afghan nationals in Afghanistan.</p>.<p>Haji Najibullah faces charges including kidnapping, hostage taking, conspiracy, and using a machine gun to further violent crimes. Each count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.</p>.<p>The indictment did not name the journalist, but a law enforcement official familiar with the matter told Reuters the case involved David Rohde, a former New York Times and Reuters correspondent who was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2008.</p>.<p>"Not guilty. I am not involved in any of this," Najibullah said through an interpreter at a hearing before US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla.</p>.<p>The US Department of Justice said that on Nov. 10, 2008, Najibullah and other co-conspirators carrying machine guns abducted Rohde and the two Afghans who were assisting him, and soon forced them to hike from Afghanistan to Pakistan.</p>.<p>Prosecutors said the victims were held captive for seven months, and Najibullah recorded a video of Rohde begging for help while the barrel of a machine gun was pointed at his face.</p>.<p>Rhode, a Pulitzer Prize winner who is now with the New Yorker, escaped in June 2009. http://blogs.reuters.com/chrystia-freeland/2011/07/01/pulitzer-winner-david-rohdes-hostage-experience/</p>.<p>He has said the kidnapping came on a trip where he was to interview a Taliban commander, Abu Tayeb. Prosecutors said that name was one of Najibullah's aliases.</p>.<p>The indictment is dated June 2014, but was not unsealed until Oct. 28, after Najibullah had been arrested and moved to the United States from Ukraine to face the charges.</p>.<p>The case is US v. Najibullah et al, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-cr-00401.</p>
<p>An Afghan man pleaded not guilty on Monday in Manhattan federal court to six counts related to the 2008 kidnapping of a US journalist and two Afghan nationals in Afghanistan.</p>.<p>Haji Najibullah faces charges including kidnapping, hostage taking, conspiracy, and using a machine gun to further violent crimes. Each count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.</p>.<p>The indictment did not name the journalist, but a law enforcement official familiar with the matter told Reuters the case involved David Rohde, a former New York Times and Reuters correspondent who was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2008.</p>.<p>"Not guilty. I am not involved in any of this," Najibullah said through an interpreter at a hearing before US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla.</p>.<p>The US Department of Justice said that on Nov. 10, 2008, Najibullah and other co-conspirators carrying machine guns abducted Rohde and the two Afghans who were assisting him, and soon forced them to hike from Afghanistan to Pakistan.</p>.<p>Prosecutors said the victims were held captive for seven months, and Najibullah recorded a video of Rohde begging for help while the barrel of a machine gun was pointed at his face.</p>.<p>Rhode, a Pulitzer Prize winner who is now with the New Yorker, escaped in June 2009. http://blogs.reuters.com/chrystia-freeland/2011/07/01/pulitzer-winner-david-rohdes-hostage-experience/</p>.<p>He has said the kidnapping came on a trip where he was to interview a Taliban commander, Abu Tayeb. Prosecutors said that name was one of Najibullah's aliases.</p>.<p>The indictment is dated June 2014, but was not unsealed until Oct. 28, after Najibullah had been arrested and moved to the United States from Ukraine to face the charges.</p>.<p>The case is US v. Najibullah et al, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-cr-00401.</p>