Taliban suspect sentenced to 10 months May 17, 2007
Posted by Scarecrow in 05/17/07 KHOU TV 6th.trackback
Taliban suspect senteced to 10 months
10:38 AM CDT on Thursday, May 17, 2007
A Pakistani student who authorities said had ties to a terrorist plot to aid the Taliban was sentenced to 10 months in prison Thursday on a gun charge.
He will serve 10 years in prison.
Shiraz Syed Qazi, 26, was found guilty of one count of possession of a firearm by an alien during a brief trial conducted by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal in January. Qazi waived his right to a jury trial.
Qazi, who will get credit for time already served in jail, will probably be deported after his sentence, Rosenthal said. The judge sentenced Qazi to the low end of the sentencing guidelines, which ranged from 10 to 15 months.
Under federal law, a nonimmigrant with a student visa such as Qazi can’t have firearms or ammunition.
The charge stemmed from a 2005 camping trip outside Houston that Qazi made with three other men. Authorities said the trip was part of paramilitary training the four men, all Muslims, were going through.
The men were photographed firing and holding guns by informants working for law enforcement.
Two of the men, Adnan Babar Mirza and Kobie Diallo Williams, were charged with conspiracy to join the Taliban and fight U.S. forces.
Mirza, a 29-year-old Pakistani who overstayed a student visa, also is charged with three counts of violating federal firearms laws. He is set for trial Oct. 29 and faces from five to 10 years for each charge.
Williams, 33, a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and is set to be sentenced Oct. 12. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The fourth man, Syed Maaz Shah, a 19-year-old Pakistani student at the University of Texas at Dallas, also was charged with possession of a firearm by an alien and is scheduled for trial next week. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
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