|
San Francisco Chronicle - August 27, 2005
Muslims in Lodi believe mystery man who spoke
of jihad was a federal mole in terror investigation
By Demian Bulwa
In the days after federal agents arrested five residents of Lodi in a terror investigation in June, a clean-cut young man who had befriended the suspects and had spent nights at their homes vanished.
He hasn't been seen in town since, and now members of Lodi's Muslim community suspect they know why: The man, who called himself Nasim Khan, was a government mole, they believe, an informer whose surreptitious tape recordings of one of the suspects are at the heart of the federal probe.
Community members said Khan, who is in his early 30s, sometimes spoke of "jihad" in what they now believe was an attempt to get others to express radical sentiments.
In his three years in Lodi, Khan -- who spoke fluent Pashto, Urdu and English -- forged deep ties in the Muslim community. He once lived in one of two apartments that overlook Lodi's mosque, helped set up a Web site for a Muslim school that was forming in the area and took the teenage son of one of the suspects to ride roller-coasters at Paramount's Great America in Santa Clara….
Federal prosecutors last week revealed they had a "cooperating witness" in Lodi. Without naming him, they said he had recorded scores of conversations with Hamid Hayat, a 22-year-old man accused of lying when he denied participating in a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. His father, 47-year- old Umer Hayat, is charged with lying about the same thing.
Hamid Hayat's attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi, earlier this month received 47 audiotapes made by the "witness" that go back as far as August 2002.
By all accounts, Hamid Hayat and the "witness" were close friends. Several members of Lodi's Muslim community now say that friend was Nasim Khan, and a relative of the Hayats said Hamid Hayat identified the "witness" as Khan after learning of the content of the recordings.
The "witness" appears to be critical to the case. Prosecutors are using him in an attempt to connect Hamid Hayat to terrorism, while defense attorneys and some community members -- who say he was an aggressive provocateur in conversations -- are trying to find out more about him. Whether he is a civilian informant or an undercover agent could affect what information the defense is entitled to receive.
Moreover, his actions provide a look at one of the ways the government has been searching out Islamic extremists since Sept. 11, 2001. Some experts say such surveillance is critical to the war on terror, while critics say it violates people's freedom to practice their religion.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Lapham, one of two prosecutors trying the Hayats in federal court in Sacramento, said the "witness" will testify at the trial of the father and son, which has been postponed until at least October….
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/27/MNG0AEECHN1.DTL
The Tracy Press – Sept. 3, 2005
Lodi Muslims not surprised by FBI mole
By Sara Cardine
A Sacramento prosecutor recently revealed in a court filing that the FBI had used a “cooperative witness” over the span of some years to aid it in the Lodi (CA) terror probe.
To some, that could mean a mosque member turned informant. To others, it means the federal government had a mole in the community.
Some members of the local Muslim community say a man named Nasim Khan stirred suspicion in some from the moment he came to Lodi three years ago. Now, he could be the reason for the deportation of two mosque leaders and the linchpin in the prosecution of two more mosque members awaiting trial in a federal court.
Locals say they wouldn’t be surprised if there were more of Khan’s kind among their ranks, or even native residents willing to unearth more evidence against fellow Muslims.
When Nasim Khan reportedly came to town in the summer of 2002, Shabbir Ahmed was the imam of the Lodi Muslim Mosque.
Also acting as a religious authority was Mohammad Adil Khan, who left the position to head up the creation of a Muslim community center he planned to call Farooqia.
Nasim Khan, described by many as a neatly dressed, clean-shaven man in his late 20s or early 30s, eventually moved into the Southwood Garden apartments on South Stockton Street, a modest two-story complex nestled close to the property line of the neighboring Lodi Muslim Mosque.
A longtime Lodi resident, also named Nasim Khan, but no relation, remembers welcoming the newcomer to the community.
“It’s a custom to go in, say “Hi” and introduce yourself,” the longtime Lodi resident said. “I knew him just a little — he said he was working on a visa.”
Seeds of doubt: The outsider aroused the suspicion of several residents when he began to ask loaded questions about topics like racism in America.
People eventually began to notice that Nasim Khan was almost too friendly. And while he was good at asking questions, he seldom offered straight answers when people questioned him about where he came from or what he did for a living.
“A lot of people bad-talked that guy,” said Taj Khan, another longtime Lodi resident not related to Nasim Khan. “I think he made a lot of stuff up.”
To some people, he was a computer aficionado, to others a young man eager to start a local business venture. He was supposedly from the Sacramento area but never gave a specific location, said one mosque member, who wished to remain unnamed for fear of drawing attention from the FBI.
Taj Khan went on to say the Nasim Khan in question frequently probed him for his thoughts on political issues. When he told the man he felt Americans were typically kind, Nasim Khan “lost interest” and went on to other questions.
“He was circling around a lot of different people,” the man said. “I thought he was looking for a friend, but he was just shopping around.”
A plant takes root: In time, Nasim Khan would focus his efforts on Ahmed and Adil Khan and a few other mosque members. Many say he became abnormally close to these people, staying at their houses and attending functions with them.
At one point in their friendship, Nasim Khan helped Adil Khan build a Web site for the Farooqia Islamic Center, according to the unnamed mosque member. He was soon taken off the task when Adil Khan became angry at some information he had included on the site.
“(Adil) was worried that something would look bad and said ‘Why did he do that?” the mosque member said.
Elaborating on the incident, Taj Khan said Nasim Khan had posted some sort of flight simulator on the Farooqia Web site that Adil felt was inappropriate for a site dedicated to a future worship hall and community center.
Ahmed, who had become very close to the outsider, tried to calm Adil Khan’s suspicions and must have been successful, the unnamed man said because the young man continued to spend time with the two leaders.
Just days after June 6, when Adil Khan and Ahmed were arrested for having expired visas, Nasim Khan would disappear. A Lodi father and son were also arrested in the June FBI raids. Umer and Hamid Hayat were charged with lying to federal agents about their connection to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and are currently awaiting trial.
A court document filed by prosecutors seeking to prevent the Hayats from receiving bail said Hamid Hayat had several tape-recorded conversations with a “cooperating witness.”
The tapes, prosecutors say, will reveal that Hamid Hayat expressed to an informant a desire to attend a terrorist training camp.
While some learn of the details of the possible evidence, others speculate whether there could be more plants in the Muslim community…..
Meanwhile, many people in the Muslim community wonder whether Nasim Khan and the alleged FBI plant are, indeed, one and the same. He could have been in the position to provide key pieces of evidence, given his closeness to the former imams and the Hayats.
No one will know for sure until the “cooperating witness” testifies in the trial, which has been postponed at least until October.
Only then will the witness’s identity be brought to light.
Sacramento Bee Editorial – August 25, 2005
The Lodi conundrum
How real was the terrorism threat?
Two Muslim clerics who once served a mosque in Lodi and the teenage son of one of them have agreed to be deported rather than fight immigration charges. Imam Muhammed Adil Khan and his son are already back in their native Pakistan. The third man, Shabbir Ahmed, is set to leave soon.
The deportations are an inconclusive, disquieting turn of events in an investigation into what federal authorities initially claimed to be a terrorist cell. In a packed San Francisco courtroom, FBI agents testified that Ahmed acted as an intermediary for Osama bin Laden and was in this country to recruit and train terrorists.
Certainly, authorities had some reason to suspect Ahmed. A month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he made fiery anti-American speeches in his native Pakistan exhorting the crowds to join a holy war against the United States. Yet the following January he was allowed to immigrate to the United States. Why?
While federal authorities have tried to link all three to terrorists, most of the evidence against Adil Khan dates back to the 1980s, when the Muslim world was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan - with the help of the United States. No evidence has been disclosed that proves the men acted to harm the United States while they lived here. Indeed, Khan helped lead an interfaith movement that brought Muslims, Jews and Christians together to work for peace and reconciliation.
And despite widely publicized claims of terrorist connections, the government never charged any of the three with any terrorism-related crimes. They were accused of minor immigration violations. All three say they agreed to be deported, not because they were guilty of anything but because they did not want to face months of incarceration with common criminals while waiting for their cases to be resolved.
Finally, while their cases were being adjudicated, bombs exploded in London, reminding a jittery world of the threat Islamic extremists pose. Given such an atmosphere, it's hardly surprising the Pakistanis opted to leave this country.
Meanwhile, two American citizens of Pakistani descent remain in jail in connection with the Lodi terrorist investigation. While the government says the two were involved in terrorist activities, so far they have been charged only with lying to the FBI.
What has happened in Lodi is not unique to Lodi. Since 9/11, thousands of Muslim immigrants have been deported under similar circumstances. With every departure, the government claims victory. As U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said, "The overarching goal in anti-terrorism is to detect, disrupt and prevent potential terrorist activities." Scott thinks the deportations of the Lodi imams have served that goal, and he may be right. It's certainly true that it is easier to investigate a crime after the fact. Proving that a potential crime has been thwarted, the government's burden in this case, is a tough trick to pull off.
But what if there was no real threat? What if those forced to leave this country are entirely innocent? The actions in the Lodi case have left many Muslim Americans shaken and resentful. Even though they are citizens and not subject to deportation, many believe that, unlike other Americans, they will always be guilty until they can prove they are innocent. Among Muslim Americans especially, the still unfolding Lodi investigation has cast a residue of fear, suspicion and distrust that will be difficult, if not impossible, to dispel.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13469264p-14310151c.html
|
