MIAMI, May 14 (UPI) -- A federal grand jury in Florida has indicted two imams and four others on charges of sending money to the Pakistani Taliban, officials said Saturday.
U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said the four-count indictment charges Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, of Miami, a U.S. citizen who is an imam at the Miami Mosque, also known as the Flagler Mosque; two of his sons, Izhar Khan, 24, of North Lauderdale, Fla., a U.S. citizen who is an imam at the Jamaat Al-Mu'mineen Mosque in Margate, Fla., and Irfan Khan, 37, a U.S. citizen and resident of Miami; and three people living in Pakistan, Ali Rehman, aka "Faisal Ali Rehman," Alam Zeb and Amina Khan, aka "Amina Bibi."
Amina Khan is the daughter of Hafiz Khan and Alam Zeb is her son and Hafiz Khan's grandson.
The six are accused of conspiring to provide and providing material support to a conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap persons overseas. They also allegedly conspired to provide material support to the Pakistani Taliban. Hafiz Khan, Rehman and Zeb are also charged with providing material support to the terrorist organization.
Hafiz and Izhar Khan were arrested in South Florida Saturday by FBI agents. They are to appear in federal court in Miami Monday afternoon.
Irfan Khan was arrested in Los Angeles and was expected to make his initial appearance there.
The other suspects are at large in Pakistan.
"Despite being an imam, or spiritual leader, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace," U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said. "Instead, as today's charges show, he acted with others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming. 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 Justice Department said in a release the indictment does not charge the mosques with any wrongdoing, and notes the defendants are charged based on their provision of material support to terrorism, not on their religious beliefs or teachings.
"I remind everyone that the Muslim and Arab-American members of our community should never be judged by the illegal activities of a few," said John V. Gillies, special agent in charge of the FBI's Miami Office.
The federal authorities said the case was built on a review of suspicious financial transactions and other evidence, not an undercover sting. The defendants allegedly provided money, financial services and other forms of support to the Pakistani Taliban from around 2008 to last November, the federal officials said.
