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Shah to be jailed until federal weapons trial, judge rules

Iris Kuo

Issue date: 11/27/06 Section: Web Exclusive

 

Calling him “a danger to the community” for his alleged participation in combat and weapons training, a federal judge ruled today that electrical engineering sophomore Syed Maaz Shah will remain in jail until his trial on federal firearms charges.

FBI agents testified and presented photographic evidence that Shah, a 19-year-old Pakistan native, was participating in combat and firearms training at a campground in Willis, Texas – just outside of Houston. Houston FBI agent John McKinley testified that the exercises were designed to “prepare participants in combat operations as they would apply to jihad (holy war) overseas.”

Shah’s Nov. 28 arrest in Waterview Park Apartments by Houston FBI agents on federal firearms charges came one day after the arrest of two Houston men that federal agents claim were associated with Shah. Kobie Williams, 33, and Adnan Mirza, 29, were arrested Nov. 28 in Houston on charges of conspiring to aid the Afghanistan-based Taliban.

“Mr. Shah spoke of the benefits of jihad and martyrdom,” McKinley said. “He provided a lecture he described as ‘pretty radical,’ and it dealt with jihad.”

McKinley said photos show Shah dressed in camouflage and holding an AR-15 rifle and Remington 870 shotgun. He was also photographed at the campground with Williams and Mirza.

Williams pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to aid the Taliban and admitted giving $350 to the group and participating in firearms training.

Each of the charges carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

He is charged with possessing an Armalite, Inc. 223 caliber semiautomatic rifle on Jan. 13-15 and March 10-11. It is illegal for non-immigrant visa holders to possess firearms.

FBI agents recorded conversations of the men at the campsite in Willis, which McKinley said was owned by the Islamic Society of Greater Houston.

“The group had a discussion in which they considered themselves muhajadeen,” McKinley said. “(Shah) held up his passport to an individual member of a group and asked if he wanted to see a passport of a terrorist.”

McKinley said the passport bore stamps from London and the United Arab Emirates.

The men participated in patrolling exercises and combat preparation at the campground on those two occasions, one of which was during UTD’s spring break.

Shah is in the United States on a student visa that was revoked January 2006, Dallas FBI Agent Melinda Tilton testified. Tilton said Shah has received an academic scholarship since he began attending UTD in fall of 2005.

Cristen Casey, director of UTD International Student Services, said visas do not always have to remain valid for students to be in the United States legally. UTD is not officially notified by the State Department when a student’s visa expires or is revoked.

“Because that has no determination on their eligibility to stay in the U.S., there’s been no requirement for the school to take any action,” Casey said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Stokes said Shah would be moved to Houston, where the trial will take place at an undetermined date.

Dressed in an orange shirt and pants, with his feet shackled together, Shah listened quietly throughout the hearing, pausing sometimes to whisper to his lawyer.

“He’s an excellent kid, excellent student,” said his aunt Rubina Shah, who flew from New York to testify at the detention hearing. “He’s a good kid, a very good kid.”

She testified that Shah lived with her in New York for more than a month last summer, but stayed in Houston for some time as he was attempting to sell an apartment owned by his father.

Shah’s attorney, Donald Fulton, said Shah had not tried to commit any violent acts.

“The facts are that he has not been shown to be a violent person here,” Fulton told Magistrate Judge Jeff Kaplan in closing arguments for Shah to be released to his aunt.

Shah’s parents live in Nigeria, where his father works for an oil company.

Shah was born in Pakistan, but attended school in Houston and Virginia.

Fulton declined comment on the specifics of the case.

“He is a young kid,” Fulton said, adding that military training does not necessarily constitute criminal behavior.

“If everything I did in (military) training was weapons (violations), from BB guns and up, they’d have me behind bars today,” Fulton said. “But, it’s a different world we live in now.”

Shah also posted comments on blogs and the Muslim Student Association Web site’s forums that were supportive of insurgent activities in Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks, according to CBS 11 News.

Shah is the secretary of MSA and a Student Government senator. MSA shut down the forum Nov. 30. MSA President Ahmed Subhani said the reason for closing the forums was that people commenting “knew each other quite well, and some of it can be taken out of context.”

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