CNN.com - Florida mancharged with helping al Qaeda has court appearance
Andrew Mccoy
Published Apr 11, 2026
| Rafiq Sabir was arrested Saturday morning near Boca Raton, Florida. | |||
|
FORT PIERCE, Florida (CNN) -- Rafiq Sabir, a Florida man charged with conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda, appeared in federal court Tuesday.
Sabir -- and a man identified as Tarik Ibn Osman Shah -- were arrested late last week. A joint statement by federal prosecutors and the FBI said they "agreed to provide training in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat to al Qaeda members and associates" and pledged an oath to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
In court, dressed in a blue prison uniform and with shackled hands and feet, Sabir told U.S. Magistrate Judge James Hopkins that he is "in the process of retaining an attorney." During the 10-minute hearing Hopkins set a Friday court appearance to determine if Sabir has obtained an attorney.
A pretrial detention hearing and a possible removal hearing for Sabir is set for Monday, June 6.
His co-defendant, Shah, is expected to appear in a New York courtroom on June 7.
If convicted, both men could be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison and fined up to $250,000 -- or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the alleged crime.
On Friday, a one-count complaint filed by federal authorities in the Southern District of New York alleged that the men, both U.S. citizens, "conspired to provide material support to al Qaeda" from 2003 to May 2005.
According to the joint statement by the FBI and federal prosecutors, "Shah and Sabir engaged in multiple meetings and conversations with a confidential source as well as an FBI special agent who was acting in an undercover capacity and posing as an al Qaeda operative and recruiter."
The complaint said the vast majority of their meetings and conversations were consensually recorded.
During the meetings, Shah and Sabir "allegedly agreed to provide training in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat to al Qaeda members and associates, while Sabir allegedly agreed to provide medical assistance to wounded jihadists in Saudi Arabia," the complaint said.
"Ultimately, in order to express their utmost loyalty to al Qaeda, Shah and Sabir allegedly pledged an oath (referred to as bayat) to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, thereby leaving them with the impression that they had become members of the organization."
Prosecutors and the FBI said Shah described activities that included a trip to Phoenix, Arizona, to recruit others, and both defendants spoke of their attempt in 1998 to train in camps in Afghanistan. According to the complaint, the trip abroad was never made.
They also said Shah had names and telephone numbers of people who had attended training camps in the Middle East -- "including Seifullah Champan, a member of the Virginia Jihad Network, who was convicted in the Eastern District of Virginia of providing material support to a Pakistan-based terrorist group in March 2004 and who was sentenced to 85 years in prison."
Prosecutors said Sabir was planning to leave Thursday for Saudi Arabia. The indictment says he had secured a job as a doctor at a Saudi military base, and planned to use that as a way to travel in the country and treat wounded jihadists.
CNN's Kim Segal in Fort Pierce, Jonathan Wald and Phil Hirschkorn contributed to this report.
