Feds: Arizonan tied to terror(Pakistani Jamaat al Tabligh)

Feds: Arizonan tied to terror

Officials detain Tempe doctor

Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 19, 2006 12:00 AM

An Arizona doctor and mosque leader returned to the United States on Wednesday from a pilgrimage in Mecca to face allegations by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security tying him to a terrorist organization.

Nadeem Hassan, 41, made a phone call to his father from Kennedy International Airport in New York, saying he was in the custody of immigration officials.

Hassan, a gastroenterologist at Maricopa Medical Center and former chief executive at the Masjid el-Noor Mosque in Mesa, has worked for years as a coordinator with Jamaat al Tabligh (Society That Propagates the Faith). The worldwide movement calls upon Muslims to live up to their faith.

Jamaat al Tabligh, or JT, previously has not been designated a terrorist group by the government. However, in paperwork rejecting Hassan`s application for a green card, Homeland Security described JT as "a terrorist organization (that) . . . provides material support . . . to members of a designated terrorist organization - al Qaida; and provides the same types of material support . . . to an undesignated terrorist organization - the Taliban."

The papers go on to tell Hassan, "You are found to have engaged in terrorist activity by providing material support to an undesignated terrorist organization."

Pakistan`s Youhana embraces Islam

Mohammed Yousuf`s mother says she had been worried about her son`s behaviour for a long time.

She blamed the brother of a former Pakistan cricket player, Saeed Anwar, for "ruining my son`s life," according to the Daily Times.

Saeed Anwar and his brother have become Muslim preachers who preach from the platform of Tablighi Jamaat - Pakistan`s largest non-political religious grouping.

Yousuf confirmed that he was a regular at the preaching sessions held by the Tablighi Jamaat.

Pakistani facing terror charges in US returns

By Our Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Jan 21: A Pakistani physician accused of having ties to terrorism by the US Department of Homeland Security chose to return home rather than face indefinite detention in the US and likely deportation.

Dr Nadeem Hassan caught a flight to the Middle East earlier this week on his way to Pakistan. The Phoenix physician was in Saudi Arabia for Haj last week when immigration authorities rejected his green-card application and revoked his US travel permit, in part because of his association with the Tablighi Jamaat.