Muslim cleric convicted of supporting Taliban to be released

By Abbey Westbury
October 11 2019 11:05 AM

CP1782269569 — FILE- In this May 16, 2011 artist rendering, Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, right, and one of his sons, 24-year-old Izhar Khan, left, are shown in federal court in Miami. The ailing elder Khan, who was convicted of providing financial support to the Pakistani Taliban, will be released early from prison on humanitarian grounds. Miami U.S. District Judge Robert Scola ordered Friday, Oct. 11, 2019, that 84-year-old Hafiz Khan be released from a North Carolina prison to a hospice care facility (AP Photo/Shirley Henderson, File)

MIAMI – An ailing Florida Muslim cleric convicted of providing financial support to the Pakistani Taliban will be released early from prison on humanitarian grounds.

Miami U.S. District Judge Robert Scola ordered Friday that 84-year-old Hafiz Khan be freed from a North Carolina prison to a hospice care facility. The order says Khan suffers from pneumonia, dementia, and cancer and cannot speak.

Khan was convicted in 2013 of providing at least $50,000 in support to the Pakistani Taliban, which is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. He was sentenced to a 25-year prison term.

Federal prosecutors argued that Khan remained a danger because he could still direct money and provide inspiration to extremists. But Scola found he poses no threat.

Khan will be released to a Raleigh, North Carolina hospice.

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