Two South Florida imams and a third family member were arrested Saturday on charges of providing support to the Pakistani Taliban, the Justice Department said.
In addition, three others in Pakistan were also indicted on the same charges.
FBI agents arrested Hafiz Khan and his son Izhar Khan in South Florida, the department said. They are expected to make their initial court appearance in federal court on Monday.
Another of Hafiz Khan’s sons, Irfan Khan, was arrested in Los Angeles and will appear in court there.
Also charged are three Pakistani residents: Ali Rehman, Alam Zeb, and Amina Khan. Amina Khan is Hafiz Khan’s daughter, and Zeb is his grandson.
The four-count indictment alleges that all six defendants conspired to provide material support to a conspiracy to kill, injure and kidnap people abroad, and that they provided support to the Pakistani Taliban.
Hafiz Khan is the imam at Flagler Mosque in Miami. Izhar Khan, is an imam at the Jamaat Al-Mu’mineen Mosque in Margate, Florida.
“Despite being an imam, or spiritual leader, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace. Instead, as today’s charges show, he acted with others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming,” U.S. Attorney Wilfredo A. Ferrer said. “But for law enforcement intervention, these defendants would have continued to transfer funds to Pakistan to finance the Pakistani Taliban, including its purchase of guns.”
The indictment describes a number of occasions where Hafiz Khan transferred money to Pakistan, and where money was withdrawn once there.
“Khan solicited and distributed funds for the Pakistani Taliban, both personally and on behalf of others, and worked with the co-defendants and others to support the Pakistani Taliban’s jihad,” the indictment states.
The court documents also list several conversations between Hafiz Khan and the other defendants where he calls for attacks against the Pakistani government and inquires whether money had been delivered to the Pakistani Taliban.
The elder Khan also built a madrassa in Pakistan’s Swat Valley that provided shelter for the terrorist group, the indictment states.
The Pakistani Taliban represent a confederation of Taliban groups in northwestern Pakistan, where they are based, said Bill Roggio, military-affairs analyst who is managing editor of The Long War Journal.
Those fighters attack targets in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan.
The group, which is headquartered in Quetta, is different from the Afghan Taliban, which has been focused on re-establishing the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan.
Both groups swear allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and have close ties to al Qaeda, he said.
Three family members of Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, the 76-year-old Imam of the Flagler Mosque who was arrested along with his American-based sons and charged with providing material support to the Pakistani Taliban, have been detained by official in Pakistan. The three were also indicted in the charged by the U.S. government, and were considered at-large in Pakistan.
Re: U.S. imams arrested for alleged Pakistani Taliban links
Proof of America Good Joke
You don't need to go to America to find proof. There are 35,000 thousand dead corpses of innocent Pakistanis killed in violent attacks to give you enough proof..
Re: U.S. imams arrested for alleged Pakistani Taliban links
You don't need to go to America to find proof. There are 35,000 thousand dead corpses of innocent Pakistanis killed in violent attacks to give you enough proof..
okay thats a proof but we should also see whenr F-16 bomb their children and women and their old people or when drones strike with you consent and their is very little protest in other parts of country than what the hell do you expect from them to salute you no sir they will hit you and hit you very hard and all of these bomb blasts are not always proved to be the work of Taliban and ISI knows who is funding these Bus Driver and carpenter Taliban who don't have any relation with Mullah Omar
Re: U.S. imams arrested for alleged Pakistani Taliban links
okay thats a proof but we should also see whenr F-16 bomb their children and women and their old people or when drones strike with you consent and their is very little protest in other parts of country than what the hell do you expect from them to salute you no sir they will hit you and hit you very hard and all of these bomb blasts are not always proved to be the work of Taliban and ISI knows who is funding these Bus Driver and carpenter Taliban who don't have any relation with Mullah Omar
Never try to justify one wrong with another, it doesn't work that way my friend... Drone or air attacks are wrong, and so are suicide attacks on innocent people... these are two wrongs which don't cancel each other..!!!
I don't have anything to add any further on the matter so please don't expect any further discussion from side..!!!!