 A federal judge in New York denied bail Tuesday for a Boca Raton doctor charged with conspiring to support al Qaeda. Dr. Rafiq Sabir, 51, will continue to await trial in a maximum-security prison, his attorney, Ed Wilford, said. ''I indicated to the court that we had $1.5 million ready to be secured'' for bail, Wilford said in a telephone interview after the hearing. But U.S. District Court Judge Loretta Preska denied the motion, ruling that Sabir would pose a flight risk if granted bail. Wilford said he will appeal the decision.
| "He'd never leave, yer honor, that's a lot of money to him but not to his backers " |
A federal grand jury handed up a one-count indictment June 27 against Sabir and Tarik Shah, an alleged co-conspirator who will be tried with Sabir. Shah, 42, also is being detained without bail. The indictment supported the government's allegation that the men pledged an oath of loyalty to Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network on May 20. An undercover FBI agent posed as an al Qaeda recruiter and secretly recorded Sabir and Shah reciting an alleged oath of allegiance on May 20.
| You'd think that would do it. |
Prosecutors claim that Shah, a martial-arts instructor, and Sabir, a medical doctor, promised to use their skills to help train and treat jihadists. Federal agents arrested Sabir at his Boca Raton home on May 28, a few days before he was scheduled to fly to Saudi Arabia. Both men pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiring to support a terrorist organization. If convicted, they would face 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Attorneys for Sabir and Shah have said their clients, both U.S. citizens who are Muslim, committed no crime. ''In this case, I think we have a clear-cut violation of Dr. Sabir's First Amendment right to freedom of speech,'' said Wilford, who has previously represented defendants facing terrorism charges.
| "He's allowed to rave like that!" |
Sabir's previous attorney, Lighthouse Point lawyer Khurrum Wahid, said Tuesday that a full caseload forced him to hand over the Sabir case to Wilford. At Tuesday's hearing, prosecutors said a third defendant would likely be added to the case against Sabir and Shah, but those two men will not face additional charges. The man, Mahmud Faruq Brent, of Baltimore, was arrested Aug. 4 and charged with conspiring to support a terrorist organization. The government claims Brent and Shah are associates and that Brent went to Pakistan and trained to become a jihadist fighter. Sabir and Shah are scheduled to be back in court Oct. 17 for a status conference. |