Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

India-Pakistan

Accused Pakistan Taliban backer denied bail in Miami

2011-08-09

[Dawn] A US federal judge has denied bail for the son of a Florida imam incarcerated on charges of financing and supporting the Pak Taliban. US prosecutors have charged Irfan Khan, 37, along with his father and brother, who is also a holy man at another Florida mosque, with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The three Pak-born US citizens were incarcerated in May and are among six people indicted on charges they conspired to transfer about $50,000 and provide other support for the Pak Taliban, which the US government considers a terrorist organization. In a ruling late on Friday, Judge Adalberto Jordan denied bail for Khan, saying he represented a flight risk. The judge had already rejected bail requests for the other two men. Jordan said the evidence against Khan was "substantial" but not as strong as that against his father, Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, who was a holy man at the Miami Mosque at the time of his arrest. All three men have pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to the charges. If convicted, the men face up to 15 years in prison for each count of the indictment. Prosecutors say their arrests capped a three-year investigation into suspicious financial transactions and were based on recorded conversations and a trail of money moving from US bank accounts to Pakistain. US officials allege the men, along with the others indicted, also supported the Pak Taliban through a madrasa, or Islamic school, in Swat, Pakistain. The other three people charged in the case were living in Pakistain when the indictment was handed down and are believed to be still on the lam.

Link

Home Front: WoT

US judge denies bail for Florida imams

2011-05-24

MIAMI: A US judge on Monday denied bail for a 76-year-old Florida imam and his son accused of sending $50,000 to support the Pakistani Taliban. Good! One sensible judge! Clone that man! Pakistan-born Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, the head of one of Miami's leading mosques, and his son, Izhar Khan, who is also an imam at another south Florida mosque, were arrested on May 14. The two men were among six people, including three other family members of Hafiz Khan, indicted on charges that they conspired to provide money and support for the Taliban, which the United States considers a terrorist organisation. The Khans, both US citizens, appeared in a federal court on Monday for a hearing attended by several dozen supporters from their mosques. Boy howdy, makes you wonder if they really meant the pledge of allegiance at their citizenship ceremony... Did they give up their Pakistani citizenship when they took American? So many people don't, nowadays. I have a friend whose son has Mexican citizenship through his father, Canadian citizenship by birth, and with both parents got American citizenship last year.

Link

India-Pakistan

Pakistan questions teenager US linked to militants

2011-05-17

[Dawn] Pakistani authorities interrogated a teenager on Monday wanted in the United States on charges of financing and supporting the al Qaeda-linked Pak Taliban, local intelligence officials said. Alam Zeb, 19, was charged in Florida along with his mother and a family friend. He is the grandson of the imam of a Florida mosque who was placed in durance vile in the United States along with his two sons on Saturday on the same charges of creating a network that moved funds from the United States to Taliban supporters in Pakistain. "He (Zeb) is being interrogated by the security officials at one of their facilities," an intelligence official told Rooters. Zeb, his mother and a family friend all live in Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... Valley in the northwest, where the army launched a major operation in 2009 to clear the area of al Qaeda-linked cut-thoats. The college student denied any links with the turbans. Zeb said his grandfather, Pak-born American Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, had sent money back to Pakistain only to help poor relatives rebuild their houses damaged in fighting in Swat between the army and Pak Taliban. Some money was used to renovate a religious school, Zeb said. Pak officials said they had not received any US request to help track down the three suspects in Pakistain. The charges were made public as US relations with Pakistain have become strained over the US raid that killed al Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden ... who has made the transition back to dust... in Pakistain on May 2. His presence in a garrison town near Islamabad raised suspicions that Pak security agencies were aware of his hideout, where one of his widows said he lived for five years. Pakistain has welcomed his death as a big step against militancy but it is angry over "unilateral" US action it says has violated its illusory sovereignty.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Florida imams arrested over Taliban charges

2011-05-15

[Al Jazeera] US authorities have charged six people in Pakistain and the southeastern US state of Florida with helping to finance and support the Pak Taliban. US nationals Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, and his 24-year-old son, Izhar Khan, were nabbed in South Florida on Saturday. Another son, Irfan Khan, 37, was jugged in Los Angeles. The three were charged with "supporting acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming in Pakistain and elsewhere", according to an indictment announced jointly by the FBI and the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Wilfredo Ferrer. Hafiz Khan is a holy man at the Miami Mosque, also known as the Flagler Mosque - while his son, Izhar Khan, is a holy man at the Jamaat Al-Mu'mineen Mosque in Margate, Florida, the indictment said. The other three charged in the suit, Hafiz Khan's daughter Amina Khan, grandson Alam Zeb and Ali Rehman, are believed to live in Pakistain and remain on the lam. Indictment allegations The indictment alleges the Pakistain-born US residents raised and sent money to the Pak Taliban and wanted to target Pak government locations, including the parliament. Prosecutors said Hafiz Khan also supported the Pak Taliban through a madrassa, or traditional religious school, in Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... in Pakistain, that he used to provide shelter for armed fighters. He had "sent children from his madrassa to learn to kill Americans in Afghanistan", according to the indictment released by Ferrer's office in Miami. "Despite being a holy man, or spiritual leader, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace," Ferrer said in a statement. "Let me be clear that this is not an indictment against a particular community or religion. Instead, today's indictment charges six individuals for promoting terror and violence through their financial and other support of the Pak Taliban," Ferrer added. If convicted, each of those charged faces up to 15 years in prison for each count of the four-count indictment.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-4 More