Queens Imam Arrested In Terror Plot, But His Role Unclear

AP Photo/David Karp

The New York man arrested in the Queens terror plot, Ahmad Wais Afzali, had been serving—cooperatively, at least according to his lawyer—as an FBI informant. The 37-year-old Afzali, who served as an imam in a mosque in Flushing and lived in the house pictured, had been passing along to the FBI information on Mohammed Zazi and his son Najibullah, who have also been arrested, according to WCBS 2.

The news station quoted Afzali's lawyer Ron Kuby as saying, "He was as cooperative as he possibly could be, and now he finds himself charged with a crime because, in this case, it was the government screwed up. The government moved too early, before they had any sort of a case against Zazi."

Like the other two suspects, Afzali has not been been charged with terrorism—only lying to investigators. But whereas some evidence seems to have emerged implicating the Zazis with a bomb plot, so far nothing has been released linking Afzali to any intended violence. But apparently he served as something of a double-agent, informing the Zazis that federal agents were after them. In a taped phone conversation, according to the Post, Afzali apparently tipped off Zazi, saying, "I was exposed to something yesterday from the authorities. And they came to ask me about your characters. They asked me about you guys."

Kuby has begun the second-guessing of the investigation, implying that the FBI acted too quickly, which is why no further charges have been filed: "Now they find themselves without a case and they're lashing out at people they shouldn't be lashing out at," Kuby said.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Kuhner in News on September 21, 2009 10:58 AM

Comments [rss]

ides_of_march

Can't say if this guy is guilty of anything but his lawyer is definitely an America-hating piece of fecal matter.

SonnyBobiche

Muslims? I'm shocked!

I was sure that it was well-off Norwegian Lutherans or impoverished Latino Catholic peasants that wanted to do us harm.

NannyState

Norwegian Lutherans have been known to deploy Lutefisk. Awareness matters.

farleft

Timothy McViegh, Terry Nichols, Theodore Kazyniski, Eric Rudolph, the Columbine Killers, George Bush, Dick Cheney, etc etc. White terrorists? I'm shocked.

jpeditor

TRY AGAIN, loser. Maybe Kuby can hire you as his human shield.

Muslim terrorists have carried out over 14,090 attacks since 9/11.

farleft

By the way...it says a lot about you and your lack of knowledge about Islam and Muslims when you post a link to that site. Their "resources" are MEMRI, Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMag, etc. Just a bunch of Zionist hoodlums conducting a propaganda and smear campaign against anyone who wishes to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

Surely if you want to learn about how to fly a plane you'll ask a proctologist to teach you. So, if I want to learn about Islam it makes perfect sense to ask a Zionist. Very smart.

jpeditor

By the way...it says a lot about you and your lack of knowledge about America and Israel when you quote communists and jihadists scum; you are too much of a cowrad to sho the links to communists and jihadists who are conducting a propaganda and smear campaign against anyone who wishes to end MUSLIM occupation of NON-MUSLIM ISRAEL, EUROPE, ASIA AND AFRICA.

Surely if YOU want to learn about how to fly a plane you'll askAL QUEDA to teach you.

So, if I want to learn about Islam it makes perfect sense to READ THE FUCKING KORAN, you useful idiot.

farleft

jpeditor,

You realize how many innocent Iraqi and Afghani civilians have been murdered by the United States? What our Caucasian leaders have done in these countries is no less than terrorism in the name of Christianity...far greater crimes against humanity have been committed againstthese countries than anything committed against the USA by fundamentalist Muslims. Please, spare me your false, misguided, and weak justifications for racism and war.

jpeditor

" Please, spare me your false, misguided, and weak justifications for racism and war."

Tell it to your racist communist and jihadi brothers.

Islam and communism are the two scourges of the earth, and you are their supporter. Buy a lot of kevlar.

Potty Boy

Invalid counter-analogy. In fact, the one way to counter Sonny's implication is to prove what he states (as clearly preposterous hypotheticals) in his last statement. But he knows you can't.