Florida Doctor Arrested on Terrorism Charge
Charles Johnson
Sun May 29, 2005 at 3:02 pm PDT • Views: 259
Doctor faces terror charges in Palm Beach County. (Hat tip: SoCalJustice.)
West Boca - A 50-year-old doctor was arrested Saturday morning on a federal terrorism charge. Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He was being held in the Palm Beach County Jail waiting to appear in U.S. District Court. U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller in Washington, D.C., declined to comment on the charge against Sabir.
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela also declined to comment. Spokesmen from the Department of Homeland Security could not be reached for comment, despite an attempt by phone.
The charge Sabir faces is from a 1996 law making it a crime for anyone in the United States to knowingly aid terrorist organizations. That includes providing money, lodging, training, false documentation or identification, weapons, equipment and transportation, according to the Department of Justice Web site. …
FBI agents swarmed Sabir’s home at about 7 a.m., neighbor Dan Kozan said.
A woman who answered the door at his home in the gated Villa San Remo community west of Boca Raton on Saturday afternoon said only, “There’s nothing to talk about.”
Dr. Daniel McBride, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Boca Raton and a friend of Sabir, said Sabir works in the emergency rooms of two hospitals in Palm Beach County. “That’s absurd,” McBride said of the charge against Sabir. “He is a quality guy and a quality physician. He’s all about helping others. That’s why he became a doctor. It would shock me beyond belief if [the allegation] was true.”
Frank says: