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Fla. imam, family charged with supporting Taliban

MIAMI - A South Florida imam and two of his sons have been charged with providing roughly $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban, which the State Department has designated as a terrorist organization.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Miami said Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, of Miami, and two sons - Irfan Khan, 37, also of Miami, and Izhar Khan, 24, of North Lauderdale - were arrested Saturday morning.

All three are U.S. citizens, originally from Pakistan.

Hafiz Khan is the imam at the Miami Mosque (also known as the Flagler Mosque). Izhar Khan is the imam at the Jamaat Al-Mumineen Mosque in nearby Margate.

Officials say the mosques are not suspected of wrongdoing.

"Despite being an Imam, or spiritual leader, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace," U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said in a statement. "Instead, as today's charges show, he acted with others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming."

Ferrer said the defendants were transferring funds to Pakistan to finance the Pakistani Taliban, including its purchase of guns. Authorities say Hafiz Khan also owned a religious school that trained militants.

The indictment also names three others at large in Pakistan, including Hafiz Khan's daughter and grandson, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's office.

CBS Affiliate WFOR reports that the defendants are charged with conspiring to provide and with providing material support to a conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap persons overseas, as well as conspiring to provide material support to the Pakistani Taliban.

Hafiz Khan and Izhar Khan were arrested Saturday in South Florida, and are expected to make their initial federal court appearance in Miami Monday afternoon, WFOR reported.

Irfan Khan was arrested in Los Angeles, and is expected to make his initial appearance there.

If convicted, each faces a potential 15 years in prison for each count.

Attempts to reach the men, their attorneys and their mosques were unsuccessful.

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