Pak origin imam, two sons, arrested on terror charges in US

FBI agents arrested Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, and his son Irfan Khan, 37, in South Florida today. Both are US citizens and residents of Miami.

Hafiz Khan is the imam of a mosque in Miami.One of his other sons, Izhar Khan, 24, has also been arrested by FBI on terrorist related charges.

Three other individuals residing in Pakistan, Ali Rehman, aka "Faisal Ali Rehman"; Alam Zeb; and Amina Khan, aka "Amina Bibi," are also charged in the indictment.

Amina Khan is the daughter of Khan and her son, Alam Zeb, is Khan's grandson.
All six defendants are charged with conspiring to provide, and providing, material support to a conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap persons overseas, as well as conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, specifically, the Pakistani Taliban.

Defendants Khan, Rehman and Zeb are also charged with providing material support to the Pakistani Taliban.

"The defendants are originally from Pakistan. Hafiz Khan is the Imam at the Miami Mosque, also known as the Flagler Mosque, in Miami. His son, Izhar Khan, is an Imam at the Jamaat Al-Mu'mineen Mosque in Margate, Fla.

"The indictment does not charge the mosques themselves with any wrongdoing, and the individual defendants are charged based on their provision of material support to terrorism, not on their religious beliefs or teachings," the Department of Justice said in a statement.

US Attorney Wifredo A Ferrer said despite being a 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," he said.
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.

"Today terrorists have lost another funding source to use against innocent people and US interests. We will not allow this country to be used as a base for funding and recruiting terrorists," said John Gillies, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Miami Office.
According to the allegations in the indictment, from around 2008 through in or around November 2010, the defendants provided money, financial services, and other forms of support to the Pakistani Taliban.