Florida imam, 2 sons charged with supporting Taliban

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110514/ap_on_re_us/us_terror_charges_florida

By RASHA MADKOUR, Associated Press – 11 mins ago

MIAMI – A Miami imam and two of his sons were arrested Saturday on charges they provided some $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban, designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization, officials said.

Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, was arrested after morning services at the Miami Mosque, also known as the Flagler Mosque, where he is an imam. One of his sons, Izhar Khan, 24, an imam at the Jamaat Al-Mu'mineen Mosque in nearby Margate, Fla., was arrested after morning services there. Another son, Irfan Khan, 37, was detained at his hotel room in Los Angeles around the same time. The men are U.S. citizens. Their mosques are not suspected of wrongdoing, officials said.

Attempts to reach the men's families, attorneys and mosques were unsuccessful Saturday.

Also named in the indictment are three others at large in Pakistan — Hafiz Khan's daughter, grandson and an unrelated man, all three of whom are charged with handling the distribution of funds.

The indictment lists about $50,000 in transactions. The funds were used to buy guns, support militants' families and promote the cause of the Pakistani Taliban, according to the indictment. It also alleges that Hafiz Khan owns a madrassa, or religious school, in his native Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan that shelters members of the Pakistani Taliban and trains children to become militants.

U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer noted that the investigation was sparked by suspicious financial activity and was not based on an undercover sting operation.

"This is based on the defendant's words, actions and records," Ferrer said at a news conference Saturday.

The indictment recounts recorded conversations in which Hafiz Khan allegedly voices support for attacks on the Pakistani government and American troops in the region.

The Pakistani Taliban is a wing of the terrorist group that began in Afghanistan. It claimed responsibility for a pair of suicide bombings that killed more than 80 people on Friday in what it said was vengeance for the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. The group has also been linked to the Times Square car bombing in New York in May 2010.

If convicted, the South Florida men face 15 years in prison for each of the four counts listed in the indictment.

It's not the first terror case to come out of the area. In June 2006, a group that became known as the "Liberty City Seven" was arrested in the Miami neighborhood by that name. They had been accused in a plot to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower. Five men were convicted, while two were acquitted. The plot never got past the discussion stage, which led defense attorneys and national terrorism experts to describe the case as overblown.

[Vi-Jay 218]

What a surprise!

Imam's and Pakistan? OMG! What an absolute shocker!

We should stage an affront.

I wonder where the best place to base the "affront" is..?

Afghanistan?

Edited May 14, 2011 by Vi-Jay

[Saddle Bronc 124]

What a surprise!

Imam's and Pakistan? OMG! What an absolute shocker!

We should stage an affront.

I wonder where the best place to base the "affront" is..?

Afghanistan?

Translation: 3 more proofs of Pakistani "stringing along US while bilking aid$$", some in Congress (including Speaker John Boener, R-OH, and one of Porkistan's former in-House official lobbyists Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA) have asked for investigation (actually, Rohrabacher has asked beyond that point--and said "cut off all aid to it"--an EXCELLENT way to announce how US has been affronted by the FUBAR nation to India's west). Edited May 14, 2011 by Saddle Bronc

[Vi-Jay 218]

Translation: 3 more proofs of Pakistani "stringing along US while bilking aid$$", the affront is that Porkistan was found and is scrambling to contain damage (edit: at this point, the term for it is "shutting barn door after lonnnnnnnnngggggggggggg after your livestock departed").

Often times "seed" money is recouped. Perhaps this is a straddle?

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Often times "seed" money is recouped.

No possible recouping here--Porkistan's "crore commanders" already swallowed and digested the "seed".

Perhaps this is a straddle?

[Vi-Jay 218]

No possible recouping here--Porkistan's "crore commanders" already swallowed and digested the "seed".

Wouldn't Gates, Buffet and Walton's differ?

and, all that poppy needed by Russia?

What's to come of that?

That fckn Khan. What neighborhoods is he frequenting these days?

Edited May 14, 2011 by Vi-Jay

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Soffiya?

[Peikko 1,575]

So the libertarians support these arrests? Interesting.

[웃 910]

Soffiya?

[slim 1,530]

I spent the weekend teaching a church group to shoot. Wonder when they'll come knocking on my door.

[Vi-Jay 218]

I spent the weekend teaching a church group to shoot. Wonder when they'll come knocking on my door.

[slim 1,530]

Why lol?

Is it really the government's job to decide which religion it's OK to "train" and which it's not? Last time I checked, the government didn't have that right. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure (not a constitutional scholar like our president or some law enforcement admin types here on VJ) they're specifically barred from making laws pertaining to religion and/or prohibiting the exercise thereof.

I'm almost 100% positive they can't do it in other countries.

Like I said, I'm no expert.

[Vi-Jay 218]

Like I said, I'm no expert.

There are no "experts".

Just practioners.