Musician gets 15 years for backing al Qaeda

by Ray Keating | November 7, 2007 at 11:43 am
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Musician gets 15 years for backing al Qaeda

Musician gets 15 years for backing al Qaeda

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Here's a guy, who in the middle of the US "War on Terror", sits in New York and agrees to help the enemy. From a historical standpoint, he's lucky he only got a 15 year sentence. In previous wars "aiding and abetting the enemy" would have gotten him a one way ticket to a dirtnap. Personally, I think if he likes al Qeada so much, he should be sent off to live in a cave in Afghanistan once his 15 years is up. 


A New York jazz musician and martial arts instructor was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for agreeing to help train al Qaeda fighters in hand-to-hand combat.


Tarik Shah, 44, a Muslim born and raised in New York, received the maximum sentence in Manhattan federal court under a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors in which they dropped one of the terrorism charges against him.


He pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiring to support al Qaeda.


Shah was the central figure in a case that centered on an oath he and his friend Rafiq Sabir, a Florida-based doctor, made in Arabic in May 2005, pledging support to al Qaeda to an undercover FBI agent who posed as a recruiter for the militant group.

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Rob Walker
Rob Walker
flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:37 on November 7th, 2007

Wow, now that's some weird multitasking.

"What do you do for a living?"

"I play bass in a jazz band, and train al-quaida fighters in hand-to-hand combat."

"...oh." 

Rob Peters
Rob Peters
flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:45 on November 7th, 2007

Haha Rob. A master multi-tasker indeed.  A strange combo of career choices for sure.

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ericsomething

Well, these jazz musicians are supposed to be a bunch of subversives. That's the reputation, anyway.

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James Pate

He's good with his hands!

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