Ikram Khan, 40, an unindicted son of the Imam that was arrested after prayer service at the Mosque.
The indictment can be read here, and features charges against the “spiritual” leader of the so-called Miami Mosque:
Hafiz Muhammad Sher Ali Khan is a US citizen and resident of Florida. Khan has been the imam, or spiritual leader at the Miami Masjid, also known as the Flagler Mosque, since at least 1999. At all relevant times, Khan solicited and distributed funds for the Pakistani Taliban, both personally and on behalf of others, and worked with co-defendants and others to support the Pakistani Taliban’s jihad. Khan also supported the Pakistani Taliban, through a madrassa, or Islamic school, in Swat, known by various names, including Madrassa Arabia Ahya-al-Aloom. Khan founded the madrassa while living in Pakistan, and has since continued to control it. Khan has used the madrassa to provide shelter and support for the Pakistani Taliban, and has sent children from his madrassa to learn to kill Americans in Afghanistan.
Also according to the indictment, the patriotic, benevolent, ecumenical imam—once again, a US citizen,
On or about September 22, 2010 Khan participated in a conversation with an individual in which they discussed contact information for Pakistani Taliban militants in Karachi, after which Khan, upon hearing that mujahideen [jihad “warriors”] had killed 7 American soldiers declared his wish that Allah bring death to 50,000 more.
As AP reports, in summary, all in the family:
Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, was arrested after morning services at the Miami Mosque, also known as the Flagler Mosque, where he is an imam. One of his sons, Izhar Khan, 24, an imam at the Jamaat Al-Mu’mineen Mosque in nearby Margate, Fla., was arrested after morning services there. Another son, Irfan Khan, 37, was detained at his hotel room in Los Angeles around the same time. The men are U.S. citizens.
Also named in the indictment are three others at large in Pakistan — Hafiz Khan’s daughter, grandson and an unrelated man, all three of whom are charged with handling the distribution of funds. The indictment lists about $50,000 in transactions.
Reiterating, Alms (“zakat”) for Jihad?
The funds were used to buy guns, support militants’ families and promote the cause of the Pakistani Taliban, according to the indictment.
The collection boxes at the “Miami Mosque”
Were they some of the Sultans of Swat? At any rate, the “Miami Mosque” appears to be just the US franchise of Hafiz and The Khan Family Jihadists:
It [the indictment] also alleges that Hafiz Khan owns a madrassa, or religious school, in his native Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan that shelters members of the Pakistani Taliban and trains children to become militants.
This was not a “sting” operation as noted by the US Attorney on the case, and the Khan Family Jihadists appear to be tied to a particularly murderous contingent of the Taliban Jihad terrorist organization in Pakistan, which targets, notably, US troops:
U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer noted that the investigation was sparked three years ago by suspicious financial activity and was not based on an undercover sting operation. “This is based on the defendant’s words, actions and records,” Ferrer said at a news conference Saturday. The indictment recounts recorded conversations in which Hafiz Khan allegedly voices support for attacks on the Pakistani government and American troops in the region. The Pakistani Taliban is a wing of the terrorist group that began in Afghanistan. It claimed responsibility for a pair of suicide bombings that killed more than 80 people on Friday in what it said was vengeance for the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. The group has also been linked to the Times Square car bombing in New York in May 2010.
