Miami Imam Will Plead Not Guilty to Aiding Terror Group, Lawyer Says

After a hearing in Federal District Court here, Khurrum Wahid, the lawyer for the imam, Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, pleaded with the community not to prejudge his client.

Mr. Khan, the leader of the Miami Mosque in west Miami, was charged along with two of his sons and three other people with providing material assistance to the Pakistani Taliban from 2008 to 2010.

“The public may have preconceived notions,” Mr. Wahid said. “I would ask the public to keep an open mind, and remember that everyone is innocent until proven guilty in this country.”

As he sat in the jury box’s first row in Magistrate Judge Barry L. Garber’s courtroom, Mr. Khan, who has a long, snow-white beard and wears thick, black-rimmed glasses, appeared frail and confused (the proceedings were translated in Mr. Khan’s native Urdu). On at least two occasions, Mr. Khan tried to say something to court personnel and he struggled to walk to the lectern to face the judge.

He suffers from a heart condition, failing eyesight and diabetes, his lawyer said. “We’re very concerned about his health,” Mr. Wahid said.

One of Mr. Khan’s sons, Izhar Khan, 24, the imam of a mosque in Margate, Fla., sat near his father in the jury box. Both men appeared in court for the first time since their federal indictment was unsealed late last week. Neither man entered a plea.The indictment says the defendants conspired to provide material support to a conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap people overseas, including planning to funnel at least $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban.

The Pakistani Taliban, which the State Department has named a terrorist organization, took responsibility for a suicide attack in Pakistan on Friday that killed more than 80 cadets from a government paramilitary force.

Of the 50 largest terrorism cases in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, about 70 percent have involved financing or other support for terrorist groups, according to the Center on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law.

But in a number of high-profile cases, prosecutors have discovered that proving material support for terrorist organizations is a challenge, legal experts say.

Family and friends of the Khans have asserted that all money sent to Pakistan was intended to help poor family members and support a madrasa in northwest Pakistan.

But legal experts say the fact that cash contributions might have been intended for humanitarian purposes is no longer a defense to supporting terrorism because money is so easily transferred.

“The key difficulty in prosecuting cases under this provision is proving that the contribution was made ‘knowingly,’?” said Victor Comras, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer and former State Department official who writes frequently about Al Qaeda and terrorism financing cases.

Mr. Comras said that in past cases against accused terrorism financiers, prosecutors have struggled to prove intent unless they have clear evidence like recorded statements.

According to the indictment, a tape-recorded phone conversation has Mr. Khan calling for an attack on the Pakistani Assembly similar to a suicide bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Sept. 20, 2008.

Prosecutors say that in another phone conversation, Mr. Khan “declared his wish that God kill 50,000” American soldiers.

Mr. Khan’s lawyer declined to discuss the specific charges.

In recent years, prosecutors have had mixed success in terrorism-financing prosecutions.

The prosecution in Dallas of the Holy Land Foundation, accused of supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas, is one example. Several defendants were acquitted in 2007 at the first trial, which ended in a mistrial for others. During a retrial in 2008, prosecutors won guilty verdicts against the Holy Land Foundation and five individuals for giving more than $12 million to Hamas, which the United States designated as a terrorist organization in 1995.

Three of those indicted last week in Miami are still in Pakistan. The fourth is Irfan Khan, the 37-year-old son of Hafiz Khan who appeared on Monday in federal court in Los Angeles.

Since the charges were publicized on Saturday, the Miami Mosque, known as the Flagler Mosque, has received two telephone threats, said Nezar Hamze, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in Pembroke Pines, Fla. On Monday evening, a van was parked in front of the mosque bearing a sign that said it should be burned down.

“This is the type of backlash that occurs,” Mr. Hamze said. “We are telling the community to remain on alert.” The police have set up a 24-hour presence at both mosques, he added.

A pretrial detention hearing for Hafiz Khan and Izhar Khan is scheduled for May 23.

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Energy firm guilty of mis-selling

10 May 2011 Last updated at 13:39 ET  SSE is thought to be the first big energy firm to be prosecuted for mis-selling Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), has been found guilty of tricking people into switching from their existing energy firms.

SSE's sales agents had used misleading sales scripts when talking to people on their doorsteps, between September 2008 and July 2009.

It had claimed they were paying too much to their current suppliers when this was not the case.

SSE, based at Perth in Scotland, was found guilty at Guildford Crown Court.

Steve Playle, of Surrey County Council Trading Standards, which brought the prosecution, said he was delighted.

"When we first became aware of the sales script being used by Scottish and Southern Energy we were convinced that it overstepped the mark and was misleading to potential customers," he said.

"A doorstep seller had a print out which he claimed showed consumers were paying too much with their current energy supplier, but the print out did not show this.

"The seller didn't actually have a clue but the sales script was cleverly designed to put potential customers on the back foot and to open the door to a sale," he added.

'Wilful mis-selling' Continue reading the main story

This verdict has revealed a deliberate tactic by SSE, not the behaviour of a rogue salesperson”

End Quote Audrey Gallacher Consumer Focus It is thought to be the first time that one of the big six energy firms has been prosecuted for using dishonest sales techniques.

The problem of doorstep trickery has been plagued gas and electricity consumers since the industry was privatised in the 1990s.

Audrey Gallacher, of Consumer Focus, said the firm's behaviour had involved "deliberate and wilful mis-selling."

"'Misleading doorstep energy sales have been a nightmare for consumers for years, leaving many switching to a worse energy deal," she said.

"This verdict has revealed a deliberate tactic by SSE, not the behaviour of a rogue salesperson."

SSE was found guilty on two counts out of seven charges brought under the unfair trading practices regulations and suggested it might fight the judgement.

"We are clearly disappointed with the verdict today and are now considering our legal options, which includes the possibility of an appeal," the firm said.

"We want to reassure customers, and potential customers, that this case relates to sales aids used in February 2009, which are not in use today, and we are confident that our sales processes continue to be fair and responsible."

2 Russians Guilty of Killing Rights Lawyer and Journalist

 

MOSCOW — A young Russian nationalist and his common-law wife were convicted Thursday in the particularly brazen murders of a prominent human rights lawyer and a journalist two years ago, as the jury sided with prosecutors who argued that the ideologically driven defendants considered their victims enemies of Russia.

The slain lawyer, Stanislav Markelov, 34, had worked to jail violent nationalists and had once pursued a murder case against the man convicted of both fatal shootings, which were carried out at close range in broad daylight on a busy Moscow street near the Kremlin. The journalist, Anastasia Baburova, 25, was a freelancer who happened to be interviewing Mr. Markelov. Both had connections to the loose network of Russian groups opposed to the nationalist and neo-fascist groups that have proliferated here since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Members of the country’s beleaguered human rights community immediately praised the verdict as a rare victory for justice in a country where high-profile murders are rarely solved.

“Our long experience allows us to distinguish between cases fabricated by the secret services and law enforcement agencies and cases that these services and structures investigate conscientiously,” Oleg P. Orlov, the head of the rights group Memorial said in a statement. “Today we can confirm that the real killers and not someone arbitrarily accused were seated on the defendants’ bench.”

The nationalist, Nikita Tikhonov, 30, was found guilty of the fatal shootings, while his common-law wife, Yevgenia Khasis, 26, served as lookout. Both had denied any guilt, and both slashed their wrists this week in what appeared to be an attempt to delay the verdict.

Sentencing is expected next month, but their lawyers vowed to appeal.

Mr. Markelov’s death added to a growing toll from the community of rights activists here. He had worked closely with Anna Politkovskaya, the investigative journalist who was gunned down in October 2006, and also with Natalya Estemirova, the rights worker who was kidnapped and murdered in July 2009.

There have been no convictions in those killings.

Ms. Baburova worked at the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, where Ms. Politkovskaya had also worked.

Other journalists from the paper have also met violent ends.

Vladimir Zherebenkov, a lawyer who represented Ms. Baburova’s parents, said they were “deeply satisfied.”

“They now know that the perpetrators of this crime will definitely be punished,” Mr. Zherebenkov said.