http://www.bradenton.com/2011/05/24/3218351.html
BC-INDICTMENT-TALIBAN:MI 05-23 Judge denies bail to imams in terror funding case 1/8BC-INDICTMENT-TALIBAN:MI3/8 By Jay Weaver McClatchy Newspapers = MIAMI -- Two Muslim clerics -- a father and son -- must stay in a Miami jail while they await trial with other family members on charges of conspiring to send money overseas to terrorists combating the Pakistan government and U.S. interests, a federal magistrate ruled Monday. Magistrate Barry Garber ruled that Hafiz Muhammad Sher Ali Khan, 76, imam of a Miami mosque, and son Izhar Khan, 24, imam of a Margate, Fla., mosque, pose a danger to the community because of their alleged financial support of the Pakistani Taliban. He also said the pair, both U.S. citizens who have lived in South Florida since the mid-1990s, might flee to their native Pakistan if they are granted bail. Garber focused on the government's evidence against Hafiz Khan, imam of the Flagler Mosque in Miami, saying it "seems to show he has been extremely active in Taliban matters and he has extensive contacts." The judge, citing FBI recordings of Khan's phone conversations regarding money he is accused of sending to the Taliban, added: "His goal was to kill Americans." Garber said the son, Izhar Khan, imam of the Masjid Jammat Al-Mumineen, was "similarly involved, but not to the extent" of the father. Both religious figures were arrested at their mosques on May 14 on charges of conspiring to provide "material support" to a foreign terrorist organization, the Pakistani Taliban. The father and son were charged along with three other Khan family members -- Irfan Khan, Amina Khan and Alam Zeb -- and a Pakistani national, Ali Rehman, in a four-count indictment. Irfan Khan was arrested in Los Angeles and the other three are under "house arrest" in Pakistan, according to published reports. The FBI opened the investigation after U.S. banks reported suspicious financial transactions between Hafiz Khan's accounts in the United States and Pakistan starting in spring 2008. With that evidence, authorities obtained a warrant to wiretap Hafiz Khan's phone conversations with other family members here and in Pakistan. A confidential government informant was also deployed in the probe. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley said Hafiz Khan's words and deeds revealed his influence over family members and others to send money to the Swat Valley to back the Taliban's assaults on the Pakistan government and U.S. interests, including recent bombing attacks killing dozens of people in that region and last year's attempted bombing in New York City's Times Square. Shipley said Hafiz Khan "enthusiastically endorsed this violence" along with other family members. "All it takes to provide support is a telephone," Shipley said. "In these recordings, you see highly detailed instructions (by Hafiz Khan) on the amounts of money and where that money should go." The prosecutor said that while the indictment alleges the patriarch and other Khan family members sent roughly $50,000 to the Taliban between 2008 and 2010, considerably more money was funneled through Hafiz Khan's bank accounts in wire transfers to Pakistan. The total: about $200,000 since 2005. But Shipley said not all of that money can be linked to the Khan family's alleged support of the Taliban Hafiz Khan's attorney, Khurrum Wahid, challenged his client's pre-trial detention. Hafiz Khan is being held in a solitary section known as the "special housing unit" at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami. He also formally entered a not guilty plea on Monday. Wahid said his client sent money to help a madrassa, or religious school, for boys and girls that Hafiz Khan founded in Pakistan. Wahid also said the money was meant to help relatives and others in the Swat Valley whose homes and lives have been damaged by the Pakistan military during crackdowns on the Taliban. The lawyer also said his client has a legal right to speak his mind in conversations with family members. "He said a lot of angry stuff on the telephone and sent money to family members" in Pakistan but committed no crime against the United States, Wahid said, suggesting that his client be granted a $650,000 bond. The son, Izhar Khan, also challenged his detention. His attorney, Joseph Rosenbaum, said his client played no role in the conspiracy and only appears once in recorded conversations with his father about sending money to Pakistan. He called the government's evidence against Izhar Khan "thin at best." "He wired $900 to his sister (Amina)," Rosenbaum said. "That's it." But in the indictment, prosecutors say that money -- along with a dozen other wire transfers -- was intended for the Taliban and mujahedeen, or militants, fighting the Pakistan government Read more: <http://www.bradenton.com/2011/05/24/3218351_p2.html#ixzz1NIWhLmDD> http://www.bradenton.com/2011/05/24/3218351_p2.html#ixzz1NIWhLmDD Read more: <http://www.bradenton.com/2011/05/24/3218351.html#ixzz1NIWdjzts> http://www.bradenton.com/2011/05/24/3218351.html#ixzz1NIWdjzts [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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