WASHINGTON, Feb. 10: A court in the American state of Illinois on Monday dismissed terrorism charges against the head of a Muslim charity who was accused of funnelling money to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Enaam Arnaout, 39, a Syrian-born resident of Illinois, however, entered a guilty plea to racketeering, as jury selection was about to get under way. Arnaout, headed the Benevolence International Foundation, a Muslim charity based in Illinois.

He pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge before US District Judge Suzanne Conlon.

The other six counts in the indictment were dismissed, including one of aiding Al Qaeda. Arnaout “admitted providing items to fighters in Chechnya and Bosnia that were other than for humanitarian and peaceful purposes,” said Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the US attorney’s office.

The US government said it has pictures seized from group’s Bosnian offices of Arnaout posing with weapons, along with undated, coded notes dealing with placement of Al Qaeda fighters.

Attorneys for the foundation had accused the government of basing its case on outdated information alleging the group was tied to Osama bin Laden. Arnaout has said he does not know Osama bin Laden personally, but that the two were both in Peshawar in the late 1980s.

The case was the first to be prosecuted by US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald since his appointment to Chicago. He was the New York prosecutor who led the successful prosecution of four men in the bombing of two US embassies in Africa in 1998.