Accused Muslim Cleric Denied Bail

An immigration judge denied bail to a Pakistani cleric Tuesday after U.S. law enforcement officials accused him of planning to set up a terrorism camp in Lodi to train followers to attack Americans.

Describing him as a potential threat to society, Judge Anthony Murry ruled that Shabbir Ahmed, 39, the former imam of a Lodi mosque, should remain in the Sacramento County jail, where he is being held on charges of overstaying his visa and in connection with an FBI terrorism investigation.

FBI Agent Gary Schaaf, who heads the Lodi investigation, testified that Ahmed and others were in the early stages of setting up a training camp for terrorists.

“Do I believe he is planning a terror attack?” Schaaf asked. “That’s some of the information that has been provided to us.”

Schaaf did not give details on the alleged attack plan, but he said Ahmed was acting as a liaison for Osama bin Laden and other terrorists who pose a threat to the U.S.

Ahmed is being held for overstaying his three-year visa, not on terrorism-related charges. He was arrested in June along with four other men connected to the San Joaquin Valley mosque he once led.

In denying bail, Murry said, “I’m compelled to find that you are both a flight risk and a danger to the community.”

Ahmed has 30 days to appeal the decision, and his lawyer, Saad Ahmad, said his client probably would challenge his detention in federal court.

“We are disappointed,” Ahmad said after the hearing, which lasted almost four hours. “As you saw, the government has no evidence whatsoever that my client is involved in terrorist activity. It’s all circumstantial evidence.”

But Schaaf, a 10-year veteran of the FBI, accused Ahmed of espousing “a conservative type of Islam” that encouraged followers to commit acts of violence against the U.S.

According to the agent, who illustrated his case using a chart featuring photos of Al Qaeda’s alleged top officials and associates, Ahmed’s long-term goal was to establish a madrassa, or religious school, in Lodi. The institution would have been similar to one in Pakistan where Ahmed and his mentor, another Lodi resident named Mohammad Adil Khan, previously worked, Schaaf said.

Evidence presented at Tuesday’s hearing showed that the Pakistan madrassa had been used to recruit people to engage in jihad, or holy war.

Ahmed arrived in San Francisco on Jan. 23, 2002, on a so-called religious workers visa and assumed his position at the Lodi mosque. He was fired this summer by the mosque’s leadership amid the terrorism investigation controversy.

On Tuesday, Ahmed acknowledged that he had made anti-American speeches before coming to the U.S., but said he did not recall the exact words of his rhetoric, and had now completely changed his opinion about America, which he respects and loves.

“This is my country,” Ahmed said in Urdu, which was interpreted for a courtroom packed primarily with reporters.

He was handcuffed, wearing a jail-issued orange shirt and pants, white socks and blue, rubber-soled shoes. “Islam also teaches us to love your own country. And the one who is against your country, you should be against him,” he said.

His mentor, Khan, sponsored Ahmed’s U.S. visa. Khan agreed last month to be deported to Pakistan, along with his son Mohammad Hassan Adil, in exchange for the government’s dropping its charges of immigration violations.

Schaaf said two other Lodi men -- Umer Hayat, 47, and his son Hamid Hayat, 22 -- had both confirmed to authorities that orders for a terrorist attack were expected to be relayed through Ahmed. Both men are charged with lying to federal agents about Hamid’s alleged 2003-04 attendance at a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.

Ahmad, who also represented Khan and Adil, called the allegations “absurd, preposterous,” and added that his clients had “no association whatsoever” with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.

“The government chooses to believe two men who are charged with lying to the FBI,” Ahmad said, adding that he suspected the Hayats might have been coerced into maligning his client.

Lodi Pakistani community leaders Ramzan Ali and Taj Khan, who testified Tuesday on behalf on Ahmed, sang his praises, saying they still considered him their mosque’s legitimate leader. A lawsuit is pending against some of the board members who dismissed him, Ali said.

“He’s like a role model,” said Ali, a businessman who identified himself as vice president of the Lodi mosque, and he noted that some community members were paying Ahmed’s legal bills. “He showed us how to be the best citizen and law-abiding people.”

A hearing on Ahmed’s immigration case is set for Oct. 25.