Friends describe terror suspect as well-known New York musician

kansascity.com ^

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

NEW YORK - (KRT) - The Bronx martial arts expert arrested in an alleged plot to build a secret al-Qaida training camp is a well-known city jazz musician who has backed greats like Abbey Lincoln and Betty Carter, friends said Tuesday.

Tarik Shah, 42, has played bass at local clubs for years, and fellow musicians said they've never heard him espouse an allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

"This man talks about music. That's all he talks about," said pianist Donald Smith, 61, who last month played with Shah at St. Nick's Pub in Harlem.

"The only thing we know is he is a devout Muslim, loves God. He loves his family."

But prosecutors charge Shah, the son of a former aide to Malcolm X, was only using his musical skills as a "cover" for a plan to train his Muslim "brothers" to wage jihad.

Shah and Columbia University-educated doctor Rafiq Sabir, 50, are both U.S. citizens. They appeared in court Tuesday to face charges of conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaida.

Prosecutors said Shah and Sabir were caught expressing their eagerness to help terrorists in secretly taped conversations with an undercover FBI agent posing as an al-Qaida recruiter and a federal informant.

Shah even scouted out a warehouse in Long Island for a possible terrorist training camp, and Sabir vowed to treat wounded jihadists in Saudi Arabia, authorities said.

"I characterize this as desperate prosecution on the part of the government," Shah's attorney, Anthony Ricco, said after Shah's brief appearance Tuesday in Manhattan Federal Court.

Shah, who is being held without bail, nodded to fellow musicians and his wife, Zakkiyyah, as he entered the courtroom in handcuffs. He was ordered to return to court June 28.

"He's a wonderful musician and a wonderful person," said friend and jazz saxophone player Salim Washington, 48, noting Shah has recorded albums with Lincoln and Carter. "He is not in any way tied with things that have been alleged."

Ricco suggested the arrests were an attempt by the government to bolster public perception that it is aggressively pursuing terrorists.

"He wouldn't be here if he wasn't a Muslim," Ricco said. "This is an orchestrated prosecution."

Sabir, who was trained in martial arts by Shah, appeared in Federal Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., and informed a magistrate that he was still trying to hire an attorney.

Sabir, arrested at his Boca Raton, Fla., home early Saturday, will be arraigned June 15.

"This anti-American stuff they're accusing him of is absurd," said Dan McBride, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, where Sabir is a member.

[Uncledave]

Be Bop --- Booom!

[Onelifetogive]

The Bronx martial arts expert arrested in an alleged plot to build a secret al-Qaida training camp is a well-known city jazz musician...

I wouldn't have thought jazz was any more popular with the Islamics than it is with Mormons....Oh, nevermind. They named their basketball team after it.....

[Old Sarge]

Pork fat skin treatment for him.

[b4its2late]

"The only thing we know is he is a devout Muslim, loves God. He loves his family."

Paraphrasing the SOB - Smiling and yucking it up with someone one second, then slitting their throats the next.

This is what we are dealing with in the war on terror.

[Publius6961]

"He wouldn't be here if he wasn't a Muslim," Ricco said. "This is an orchestrated prosecution."

Does this mean that the charges are total fiction and none of it happened?
Faked telephone conversations?

I wonder if I'm retarded, or this so-called attorney is. Hard to tell, any more.

[martin_fierro]

Tarik Shah, 42, has played bass at local clubs for years, and fellow musicians said they've never heard him espouse an allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

I've heard him.

He da bomb.

[DoctorMichael]

Weren't the 14 Muzzlimbs that caused the uproar on that plane awhile back, when they appeared to be casing the onboard procedures, 'Musicians'?

[martin_fierro]

I wonder if I'm retarded, or this so-called attorney is.

Prolly a publik dephender.

Connect the dots.

[andyk]

Does this mean that the charges are total fiction and none of it happened?

No kidding! An "orchestrated prosecution"? I would hope so!

[conservativeharleyguy]

Yeah, sure, and all John Gacy ever talked about was clown make-up, and all Jeffrey Dahmer talked about were recipes, and their neighbors were just shocked when they turned out to be scum ("he seemed like such a nice young man").

Just like the brilliant idiots of Los Alamos who still resolutely believe that Wen Ho Lee could never be a spy, because "he makes such great green chile chicken enchiladas".

Most people can never quite grasp the reality that their personal judgment wasn't acute enough to alert them to a "bad" person even in the face of overwhelming (and often fatal) evidence to the contrary.

[andyk]

Weren't the 14 Muzzlimbs that caused the uproar on that plane awhile back, when they appeared to be casing the onboard procedures, 'Musicians'?

Yep, that's right. I think there were here on some type of special entertainment visas. I'm not sure, but I seem to remember that their visas had expired. This was a big deal for a while. Passengers who reported this action were laughed off, until the air marshals on the flight came forward and corroborated the story.

[saleman]

"I wouldn't have thought jazz was any more popular with the Islamics than it is with Mormons....Oh, nevermind. They named their basketball team after it....."

Actually the Jazz were originally in New Orleans. When they moved to Utah they kept the name.

[Zeppelin]

***"He's a wonderful musician and a wonderful person," said friend and jazz saxophone player Salim Washington, 48, noting Shah has recorded albums with Lincoln and Carter. "He is not in any way tied with things that have been alleged."***

WTF?

[jackieaxe]

Is he related to Cat Stevens?

[romanesq]

No, he's not related to Cat Stevens. He's just friends with him and the Syrian musicians who mime terrorist actions on planes.

[Onelifetogive]

Actually the Jazz were originally in New Orleans. When they moved to Utah they kept the name.

Sorry. I left off my sarcasm tag.....

[usurper]

Weren't the 14 Muzzlimbs that caused the uproar on that plane awhile back, when they appeared to be casing the onboard procedures, 'Musicians'?

Yes, but they were from Syria. This guy is just a want-a-be.

[This Just In]

Generally speaking, though it isn't wise to generalize, the "bad" people don't walk around announcing to everyone that they are the "bad" guys. The point is to look normal. Unassuming. I'm sure that vendor selling poisoned watermelons to Iraqi soldiers didn't drive around saying, "Poison watermelons!!! Get your refreshing, toxic, poisonous watermelons!!!!"

"I characterize this as a desperate prosecution on the part of the government,"

I should hope so. Desperate times calls for desperate measures, so to speak.

Liberal artists are so gullible. Desperately lacking any common sense.

[HardStarboard]

>>>"He wouldn't be here if he wasn't a Muslim," Ricco said. <<<

Maybe we should use the Rico Statutes to investigate Ricco!