Jurors to be screened for anti-Muslim bias
MiamiHerald.com ^ | Wed, Mar. 21, 2007 | EVAN S. BENN
bradenton.com
Potential jurors in the upcoming trial of a Boca Raton doctor and three other men accused of conspiring to help terrorists will be screened for anti-Muslim biases.
A federal judge in New York ruled Tuesday that attorneys for Dr. Rafiq A. Sabir, Tarik Shah, Abdulrahman Farhane and Mahmud Faruq Brent can ask possible jurors to fill out questionnaires before jury selection begins.
The questions cannot ask potential jurors about their religious beliefs, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said.
The men, all U.S. citizens who are Muslim, are scheduled to stand trial April 24. They have pleaded not guilty.
Sabir, 52, was arrested at his Palm Beach County home in May 2005, days after investigators claim he recited an oath of loyalty to al Qaeda in front of an undercover FBI agent.
Prosecutors say Sabir agreed to use his medical training to treat injured terrorists in Saudi Arabia. But his attorney, Ed Wilford, has said Sabir never stated or implied a desire to harm Americans.
Shah, a New York musician and martial arts expert, is accused of taking the same oath as Sabir and agreeing to train terrorists in hand-to-hand combat.
Farhane, a Brooklyn bookstore owner, allegedly discussed a plan with Shah in December 2001 to send money to terrorist fighters in Afghanistan so they could hurt U.S. troops.
Brent, a Washington, D.C., cab driver, is accused of conspiring to support Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based terror group.
They are being held without bail in federal custody and face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
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