Pakistani police submitted terrorism charges against five young Americans on Tuesday.

The students, from the U.S. state of Virginia, were detained in the town of Sargodha in December. They were accused of contacting militants over the Internet and plotting attacks.

They have not been formally charged as of yet, but police submitted a charge sheet in an anti-terrorist court in Sargodha on Tuesday.

[Hassan Katchela, Defense Lawyer]:
"Between now and the 10th of March, the court will go through the documents with the assistance of the lawyers. If the court feels that there is reason to proceed with the trial after reading all the documents, it will start their trial by framing charges against all the accused. If the accused feel that the charges against them are false, and there is no evidence against them, they will plead 'not guilty.'"

The court is expected to formally charge the five at the March 10th hearing.

The five could face life imprisonment if convicted.

Police have said the men -- two of them of Pakistani origin, one of Egyptian, one of Yemeni and one of Eritrean origin -- wanted to go to Afghanistan to join the Taliban to fight Afghan and Western forces.

Police have said emails showed they contacted Pakistani militants who had planned to use them for attacks in Pakistan.

The men told the court earlier they only wanted to provide fellow Muslims in Afghanistan with medical and financial help.

They have accused the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Pakistani police of torturing them and trying to frame them.

Pakistani authorities have denied accusations of mistreatment.

The case has raised alarm over the danger posed by militants using the Internet to evade tighter international security measures and plan attacks.

Pakistan is fighting al Qaeda-linked militants and is under pressure from the United States to help stabilize neighboring Afghanistan by cracking down on militants' cross-border attacks on U.S.-led troops.