Six people in the United States and Pakistan have been charged in the US with providing support to the Pakistani Taliban.
Hafiz Khan, a 76-year-old imam of a Miami mosque, two of his sons, his daughter, his grandson, and another man were indicted on charges including providing ‘material support’ to a foreign terrorist organisation.
They have been arrested and are due to appear in court tomorrow.
‘Members of the conspiracy created a network for the flow of money from inside the United States to Pakistan for the benefit of the Pakistani Taliban, and its supporters,’ the federal indictment said.
The network they established involved wire transfers and bank withdrawals of more than $46,000, according to the four-count indictment.
Mr Khan and his son Izhar Khan, 24, were arrested in Florida, while a second son, 37-year-old Irfan Khan, was arrested in Los Angeles. Izhar Khan also is an imam at a separate Florida mosque. All three have court dates Monday.
Mr Khan's daughter, Amina Khan, his grandson, Alam Zeb, and Ali Rehman all live in Pakistan and are at large.
Each face up to 15 years in prison per count.
The revelations come amid a period of turmoil in ties between Islamabad and Washington in the aftermath of the 2 May killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan.
The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the recent bombing of a paramilitary police training centre in northwest Pakistan that killed 89 people, in an attack it said was to avenge Bin Laden's death.
The US Justice Department, wary of the sensitivities of linking religious figures to terror groups, noted it does not accuse the mosques of wrongdoing. It said charges were filed based on criminal acts, not religious beliefs.
‘Despite being an imam, or spiritual leader, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace,’ US Attorney Wifredo Ferrer said in announcing the indictment.
‘He acted with others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming,’ he continued. ‘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.’
Between 2008 and 2010, they allegedly used an elaborate system of bank accounts and wire transfers to send money from the United States to Pakistan, in part to sustain militants and their families.
The indictment also alleges that the elder Khan supported the Taliban through a madrassa, or Islamic school, that he founded in the Swat region of Pakistan.
