BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) – A federal judge ordered a former Navy sailor to remain behind bars Friday on charges that he supported terrorism by disclosing secret information about the location of Navy ships and the best ways to attack them.

Hassan Abujihaad, 31, of Phoenix, appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport but did not enter a plea. He is due to return to U.S. District Court in New Haven on March 30 for an arraignment.

“Obviously this is a very serious matter,” U.S. Magistrate Holly Fitzsimmons told Abujihaad, who stood quietly and wore an orange jumpsuit.

His attorney, Dan LaBelle, declined comment after the hearing but told Fitzsimmons that his client has a job and two small children and will ask to be released on bond at some point.

Abujihaad is accused in a case that began in Connecticut and followed a suspected terrorist network across the country and into Europe and the Middle East. Investigators say he provided secrets, in the form of classified documents, to a suspected terrorism financier.

Abujihaad was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a grand jury in Bridgeport on charges of providing material support to terrorists with intent to kill U.S. citizens and disclosing classified information relating to the national defense.

He was arrested in Phoenix, where he was apparently working as a delivery man.

, on a criminal complaint from Connecticut, home to the Internet service provider where the investigation started.

Friends said they knew the former sailor was unhappy with American foreign policy but were surprised when he was arrested on charges of supporting terrorism.

“He was very opinionated,” said Miguel Colon, a friend who said he was extensively questioned about Abujihaad by FBI agents this week. “He would talk about things in regard to the way the Iraq war was going. It was something he disagreed with.”

But Colon, 24, who met Abujihaad at a mosque in Phoenix, said he rarely saw his friend angry. Colon said he’s having a hard time believing the man whose children played with his children secretly supported terrorists.

Abujihaad did admire the rebels in Chechnya, saying they were formidable fighters, Colon said.

Abujihaad said his case was blown out of proportion and that he only bought DVDs, Colon said. Federal authorities say they recovered e-mails about videos Abujihaad ordered that promoted violent jihad.

Abujihaad is charged in the same case as Babar Ahmad, a British computer specialist arrested in 2004 and accused of running Web sites to raise money for terrorism. Ahmad is to be extradited to the U.S.

During a search of Ahmad’s computers, investigators discovered files containing classified information about the positions of U.S. Navy ships and discussing their susceptibility to attack.

Abujihaad, a former enlisted man, exchanged e-mails with Ahmad while on active duty on the USS Benfold, a guided-missile destroyer, in 2000 and 2001, according to an FBI affidavit. In those e-mails, Abujihaad discussed naval briefings and praised Osama bin Laden and those who attacked the USS Cole in 2000, according to the affidavit.

Abujihaad received an honorable discharge from the Navy in 2002, according to the affidavit. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.

Abujihaad attended the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, said Ihsan Saadeddin, a spokesman. The center cooperates with authorities in reporting suspicious behavior, but Abujihaad never did anything to arouse suspicion, he said.

AP-ES-03-23-07 1709EDT