By Nate Rawlings
For the next 90 days, Imam Ahmed Afzali will be wearing a monitor on his ankle, connected to police from the parole division. By the 91st day, he will either be in jail, or on a plane out of the United States, never to return.
Afzali entered the Federal courtroom yesterday dressed in a dark blue suit. His long beard covered the top of his dress shirt. Before the hearing, he talked and joked solemnly with police officers and FBI agents who had arrested him the previous year.
Judge Frederic Block gave Afzali the good news that he would not serve any more jail time. The bad news is that he has the next 90 days to get his affairs in order and leave the country where he has lived for more than 30 years. In early March, Afzali pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and the NYPD about conversations with Najibullah Zazi, an acquaintance from Queens, who admitted planning to blow up the New York City subway on September 11, 2009.
“I’m standing in front of you as a convicted felon, a lying imam, which is a physical, emotional and spiritual burden far greater than any sentence you could impose,” Afzali told Judge Block at his sentencing. “Honest to God, it was never my intention to help those idiots for what they do in the name of Islam.
After the hearing, FBI agents and police officers lined up and shook hands with Afzali as he left the courtroom.
Afzali, 38, came to the United States from Afghanistan with his family shortly after the Soviet invasion in 1979. He grew up and went to high school in Queens and became a religious leader in the community. Authorities consulted him from time to time when they needed information about Muslims he knew.
Last September, police and FBI agents questioned Afzali about his connection with Zazi, who Afzali had known from Queens. Police suspected Afzali of being part of the plot. Afzali denied a connection, and when he spoke to Zazi, he told him he was under surveillance. The next time he talked to the FBI, Afzali said he had not told Zazi anything about being wanted by the police. Game over.
After hearing the news that he would not go to jail, but that he would be leaving the country, Afzali stepped into the warm sunshine outside of the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse and spoke to reporters who were clustered on the sidewalk.
“The FBI treated me very well,” Afzali said. “It was Ramadan, and they gave me food to break my fast.”
While he had nothing but good things to say about the authorities who arrested him, Afzali had harsh words for Zazi. “He’s an idiot,” Afzali said. “Religious law forbids you to enter another country and cause mayhem and destruction. He’s not only making it hard on himself, he’s making it hard for every other Muslim living in America. We live in a country of laws. You can’t take the law into your own hands.”
When he had said all he wanted, Afzali put on a pair of small sunglasses and walked into Cadman Plaza Park. Today is the first day of his final three months in the United States. As far as where he’ll be going after that, “I’m not sure,” he said. “I’m gonna start shopping around.”
Leave a Reply