ISLAMABAD (KUNA) -- A Pakistani Islamic cleric and his son, deported from the United States for violating their visa terms, arrived back home late on Wednesday escorted by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, sources said. Mohammad Adil Khan, 47, and his son Mohammad Hassan Adil, 19, arrived back home from Toronto in eastern Lahore city, about 370 kilometers from here, airport security sources told KUNA. They said they were taken into custody by Law-Enforcement Agencies (LEA) immediately after their arrival for further interrogation.According to the ICE press release, posted on its website, the deportation of the cleric and his son followed an immigration hearing July 15 in which the pair announced they were abandoning their legal fight to remain in the United States and would return to their native country. Kahn and Adil were taken into custody by ICE on June 6 for violating the terms of their visas, said the release. Khan is a citizen of Pakistan and a trained Muslim cleric, the release said, adding that he first entered the United States in April 2001 to perform religious services at the Lodi Muslim Mosque near Sacramento. A second cleric who was arrested on immigration violations in connection with the same investigation, Shabbir Ahmed, is also to arrive back home next week, said sources.
ADDITIONAL: LAHORE, Pakistan - Pakistan has started questioning a Muslim cleric and his son who were deported from the United States on immigration charges earlier this week after the father was accused of having terrorist links, the interior minister said on Thursday. Muhammad Adil Khan and his son, Muhammad Hassan Adil Khan, arrived late on Wednesday in the eastern city of Lahore after being deported on Monday from Lodi, California.
Intelligence agents were interrogating the two men, who resisted arrest on returning to Pakistan, at an undisclosed location in Lahore, one agent said on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorized to speak to the media. Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao confirmed that the men had returned to Pakistan, and said the âprocessâ of questioning them had begun.
| "Ahmed, the Number Seven truncheon, please. Only the best for our guests from America." |
An FBI agent had testified that Ahmed was acting as an intermediary for Osama bin Laden and other terrorists. The agent refused to testify whether Ahmed was a member of a terror group, saying that information was classified. Another FBI agent testified that Khan got orders from Jalaluddin Hoqqani, a Taleban commander tied to bin Laden and passed them to Ahmed. The agent provided few details of the training camp that was alleged to be part of a planned religious school in Lodi, but said âindividuals would be taught ... to commit acts of violence against the US