Swedish terrorist on trial in the US....

He planned to set up an Al-Qaeda terrorist camp in the US....

As the trial of a Swedish citizen facing terror charges began in New York on Tuesday, prosecutors argued that the man planned to set up an Al-Qaeda terrorist training camp in the United States.

Ousama Kassir was extradited to the United States in September 2007 from Prague, where he was jailed after his arrest in 2005 during a stopover while flying from Sweden to Lebanon.

"This case concerns a global conspiracy that takes place down here in the United States," assistant US attorney Michael Farbiarz told judge John Keenan in the US district court in Manhattan.

Kassir, 43, is charged with conspiring with others to set up a "jihad" (holy war) camp in Oregon, in the northwest United States, that would offer military weapons training for Muslims interested in fighting in Afghanistan.

Kassir declared his innocence when he was charged last year, and his lawyer on Tuesday said his client had "a big mouth," but was not a criminal.

Kassir arrived in the United States in 1999 and spent a year at an Oregon ranch, imparting religious teachings at a Seattle mosque before returning to Europe, according to the prosecution.

"You are going to see a knife that he used for training at the ranch," Farbiarz told the jury as Kassir, in a red tunic, listened through an interpreter.

"You will see the bomb making manuals and the poison making manuals," he added.