An Imam who has agreed to be deported from the United States may be able to clear a California father and son with suspected links to al Qaeda, a lawyer for one of the men said on Friday. Sacramento, California, Attorney Wazhma Mojaddidi said Muhammad Adil Khan may have to stay in the United States as a material witness to testify at the trial of her client, Hamid Hayat, and his father, Umer Hayat.
Hamid and Umer Hayat have pleaded not guilty to federal charges they lied to investigators probing their suspected links to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.
The two men were arrested last month by federal agents probing whether some in the Pakistani immigrant and Pakistani-American community in Lodi, California, had ties to terrorist groups.
Khan and his son, Muhammad Hassan Adil, were swept up in the probe and agreed last week to be deported to Pakistan on immigration violations.
Khan may have told investigators that Hamid and Umer Hayat were unfit for involvement with terrorist training camps, said Mojaddidi.