Former imam emerges as central figure of terrorism investigation

Though so far charged with nothing more than immigration violations, Mohammed Adil Khan, a former imam of the Lodi Muslim Mosque, has emerged as the central target of the government's terrorism investigation.

Allegations made in open court, along with federal documents, depict the soft-spoken Adil Khan, 47, as a veteran jihadist who advocates the liberation of Muslim lands occupied by nonbelievers.

The government has tried to link Adil Khan to some of the world's most nefarious characters, including Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and Nizamuddin Shamzai, a powerful Deobandi Muslim leader variously described as the "godfather" of al-Qaida and the Taliban. Shamzai was shot to death last year by motorcycle-riding terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan.

Adil Khan's attorney, Saad Ahmad, said his client has never been involved in terrorist activities nor any terrorist organizations.

"They (government investigators) are trying very hard to link these things together ... using circumstantial evidence to implicate my client, and I don't appreciate that," Ahmad said.

Ahmad also represents Shabbir Ahmed -- Adil Khan's protégé and his successor as imam in Lodi. Ahmed, too, is being held on alleged immigration violations and is a target of the federal government's terrorist investigation in Lodi.

As part of that investigation, the government also has arrested a father-son pair from Lodi on charges of lying about terrorist activities. The government claims Hamid Hayat, 22, recently attended a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and that his father, Umer Hayat, 47, a Lodi ice cream vendor, helped fund the venture.

The Hayats deny the charges. While Adil Khan's supporters in California see him as a peacemaker who worked hard to establish common ground between Muslims and those of other faiths, the government claims he has a history of questionable activities.

In court documents obtained by The Bee, the federal government alleges Adil Khan once backed Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait; lamented Islam's failure to reclaim Israel and Palestine; and raised money for his father's madrassah, or religious school, in Karachi. The FBI contends the school, known as Jamia Farooqia, has produced soldiers for al-Qaida and other jihadists, who believe God has directed them to battle the enemies of Islam.

Much of the government's case against Adil Khan appears to date back to his involvement in the struggle to liberate Afghanistan from the Russians, a struggle spearheaded by Osama bin Laden with the backing and funding of the United States.

Many of the heroes of that struggle have gone on to roles as leading Islamists now critical of the United States.

From 1979 to 1989, the Russians occupied Afghanistan, then installed a pro-communist dictator who was overthrown and hanged in 1992.

The U.S. government cites a 1992 article published by Jamia Farooqia that describes the school's role in the "front lines" of the "jihad in Afghanistan."

The article allegedly identified Adil Khan as the general director of Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami ("Movement of Islamic Holy War"), an organization the State Department said was founded in Afghanistan in 1980 to wage jihad against the Russians and is now considered extremist.

Shabbir Ahmed, Adil Khan's former student at Jamia Farooqia, acknowledged Adil Khan's involvement in the organization while testifying during his own immigration hearing June 24 in San Francisco.

But he said Adil Khan left Harakat once the Russians had been defeated.

During the hearing, Ahmed, 39, admitted making a series of anti-American speeches in Pakistan shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But he said he changed his views after coming to the United States on a religious visa in January 2002.

"Now I know what the truth is," he told the immigration judge. "I think there is justice here and everyone is respected."

Attorney Ahmad denies Ahmed has been involved in terrorist activities. Ahmed came to Lodi shortly after making the speeches to see "what the U.S. was all about," the attorney said in an interview last week. "And when he went back (to Pakistan) last year for 21/2 months he ... told people all over that America is a great country where justice prevails."

During the June 24 hearing, the government focused primarily on Ahmed's connection with Adil Khan.

Paul Nishiie, assistant chief counsel for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, tried to link Adil Khan to several high-profile Muslim extremists in Pakistan.

Nishiie claimed Adil Khan was a close friend of the "the godfather of the Taliban," the late Nizamuddin Shamzai, whom the Washington Post has described as a bin Laden crony who "publicly urged his followers to wage holy war against U.S. forces in Afghanistan."

Ahmed acknowledged during testimony that Shamzai taught at Jamia Farooqia, but said "he did not teach me."

Adil Khan's attorney denied in an interview that Adil Khan and Shamzai were close friends. "I don't believe they were in fact associated with one another," he said, adding that his client certainly didn't subscribe to Shamzai's world view.

The government also has tried to link Adil Khan to two other extremists: Pakistani Sen. Sami ul-Haq, a bin Laden supporter and leader of an extremist group that runs jihadi training camps, according to government documents; and Fazlur Rehman Khalil, also suspected of running terrorist training camps in Pakistan. Government documents allege that Hamid Hayat went to a training camp near Rawalpindi operated by a Fazlur Rehman.

But in another document, the government confused Rehman with another Fazlur Rehman who is the head of a large political party in Pakistan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.

A government source acknowledged the mistake, adding that investigators aren't sure which Rehman has links to Adil Khan.

The government also claims in court documents that the FBI has transcribed into English tapes of seven speeches Adil Khan gave from 1990 to 1995. In one speech, according to the government, Adil Khan said he had accompanied a group of 45 mujahedeen -- guerrillas who claim divine inspiration -- who went into Afghanistan and defeated 1,300 Russian soldiers.

In that speech, Adil Khan "reportedly encouraged members of the audience to fight to reclaim what he characterized as 'lost lands' in Central Asia, Kashmir and Palestine."

In another speech, Adil Khan "reportedly expressed his view that neither Americans or Russians 'are our friends,' " then "told his audience he had met Saddam Hussein eight times (and) expressed his hope that Saddam would prevail in Iraq's war against Kuwait."

Several Muslim experts interviewed said Adil Khan's alleged ties to the jihad in Afghanistan, even if true, wouldn't necessarily translate into anti-American activities today.

The alleged sentiments would put him in the mainstream for Pakistanis at the time, said Irfan Haq, a leader of the Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims, or SALAM, mosque in east Sacramento.

The immigration hearings for Adil Khan, his 19--year-old son Mohammad Hassan Adil and Shabbir Ahmed have been consolidated and will resume in San Francisco on Aug. 9.

In the meantime, the three men remain in federal custody, as do the Hayats. Last week, citing the federal allegations, board members at the Lodi mosque fired Ahmed as imam.

Adil Khan's family -- including his wife and children in Lodi -- have "been devastated by all this," said attorney Ahmad. "Their lives have been turned upside down and his reputation has been destroyed."

He said Adil Kahn has all but given up:

"He is saying, 'I'll go back to Pakistan if that will bring peace to Lodi and my family.'

"I'd definitely like him to fight this thing and make a point," Ahmad said. "But that's his call."