Pat Dollard

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Bloomberg

A U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, four of his family members and another man were charged by federal prosecutors with providing “material support” to the Pakistani Taliban.

Three of those indicted, including two South Florida imams, have been arrested in the U.S., the Justice Department said in a statement. The others are at large in Pakistan. All are charged with supporting a conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap persons overseas as well as aiding the Pakistani Taliban, which has vowed to retaliate against the U.S. for the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Named in the indictment are Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, of Miami; two of his sons, Irfan Khan, 37, of Miami, and Izhar Khan, 24, of North Lauderdale, Florida, also U.S. citizens; and Ali Rehman, Alam Zeb, and Amina Khan, who are not U.S. citizens. All are originally from Pakistan, the Justice Department said.

“Despite being an imam, or spiritual leader, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace,” U.S. Attorney Wilfredo A. Ferrer said in the statement. “Instead, as today’s charges show, he acted with others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming.”

Hafiz and Izhar Khan, who is also an imam, were arrested today in South Florida while Irfan Khan was picked up in Los Angeles, according to the statement. Amina Khan is Hafiz Khan’s daughter and Zeb is her son, the government said.
Court Appearances Set

Hafiz and Izhar Khan are scheduled to appear in federal court in Miami on May 16. Irfan Khan is expected to make his initial court appearance in Los Angeles.

Each of the defendants was charged with at least three counts, and each count could lead to 15 years in prison.

The Miami Herald reported today that Hafiz Khan is the leader of the oldest and most influential mosque in that city. The Justice Department statement said the mosques themselves aren’t accused of wrongdoing.

The FBI began the investigation based on a review of financial transactions, according to the Justice Department.

The indictment lists repeated financial transactions from the U.S. to Pakistan and alleges that Hafiz Khan and the others were attempting to finance gun purchases for the Pakistani Taliban. The indictment relates conversations of Hafiz Khan in which he wished for the deaths of Americans and called for a violent revolution in Pakistan.

The Pakistani Taliban has been involved in several attacks on U.S. targets in South Asia. The group claimed responsibility for bombings on May 13 that killed 80 people at a paramilitary police academy in northwestern Pakistan. It said an attack on the U.S. is next, as part of its attempts to avenge the death of bin Laden’s death.

The U.S. State Department declared the group a foreign terrorist organization on Aug. 12, 2010.