SARGODHA, Feb 2 Five Americans accused by Pakistan of links to Al-Qaeda or linked groups pleaded their innocence on Tuesday, saying they were being set-up and tortured by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of United States and the Pakistani police.

As they arrived for a remand hearing at an anti-terrorism court in Sargodha, one of the suspects tossed a scrap of toilet paper scrawled with writing from the window of the police van, an AFP reporter said.

“Since our arrest the FBI and Pakistani police officials have tortured us. They are trying to set us up. We are innocent. They are trying to keep us away from the public, media, our families and our lawyers. Help us,” it read.

The piece of paper was signed by “Waqar, Ahmed, Ramy, Umar, Aman” — the names of the five US citizens aged between 18 and 25, who were arrested in December 2009 but have yet to be indicted.

The US embassy and a Pakistani jail official denied the five men's allegations of mistreatment but defence lawyer Tariq Asad told reporters the detainees claimed they had been subjected to electric shocks. “They have said they were given electric shocks in custody,” he said.

Asad quoted the detainees as alleging that they were threatened with having their passports destroyed and "being stabbed in the chest" if they reported their alleged mistreatment to the media.

The police have accused the men of trying to contact Al-Qaeda and its allied groups and to plot attacks against Pakistan and its allies.

Pakistani officials say the men planned to travel to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban against US troops. The men have denied links to Al-Qaeda and said they wanted to go to Afghanistan for charity work. They face life imprisonment if put on trial and found guilty. A Pakistani high court in Lahore has barred their deportation to the United States.

Pakistan is under US pressure to do more to eliminate Islamist networks that have carved out training grounds and havens in the country's northwest to plot attacks against Western troops fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Khalid Khwaja, a former ISI official reported to have once worked with Osama bin Laden and now a rights activist assisting the five men, quoted the suspects as saying they had been subjected to electric shocks and threats in jail.

“Basic human rights are being violated in this case and the guys are being tortured inside the jail,” Khwaja said.

Sargodha jail superintendent Anjum Shah denied the five men's claims of mistreatment and said the suspects had not complained to prison authorities. “There is no torture on the accused in the jail, we are treating them according to the rules,” he told AFP.

Rick Snelsire, spokesman for the US embassy, also rejected the allegations of torture against the United States and the FBI as “baseless”, and said that the men had received consular services.

“They were interviewed by the FBI shortly after they were arrested... We have a consular officer who has visited them on three occasions and I believe she is attending the hearing too. So we are closely following the case,” he said.

Defence lawyer Asad told reporters that the court agreed to fresh medical examinations for the suspects and would consider a request to allow them have private meetings with their legal counsel.

Aamir Abbas, a local police official, said the court extended the judicial remand of the five men until Feb 16, when they will again appear in court. The media has been barred from attending the proceedings.—AFP