HYDERABAD, 18 August — The family of a man from this city who was held in the US after the Sept. 11 attacks heaved a sigh of relief on hearing that he might be deported in October.
Ayub Ali Khan was arrested on suspicion of links with the terrorists who struck New York and Washington. While investigators failed to prove any such links, a court in New York Thursday found Khan guilty of credit card fraud and sentenced him to prison for a year and a day.
Khan’s lawyer Lawrence Feitell informed his client’s family here over the telephone that under American law, the sentence would be counted from Dec. 13 and Khan could get a reduction of the term by 54 days.
"He may be deported in the third week of October," Khan’s niece Rahila quoted Feitell as saying. "I thank Allah. It is a great relief for us to know that he would be back home in October. We have waited for almost a year," Khan’s mother Syeda Gul Begum said.
Khan, 35, was also ordered to pay restitution of about $415,000. He admitted to selling 15 fraudulent credit cards for up to $2,000 each in the black market. He and Muhammad Jaweed Azmat, 37, another native of Hyderabad, were arrested on a train in Texas a day after the Sept. 11 attacks. Azmat’s lawyer Anthony Ricco has informed his client’s family that he could be deported in September.
Ricco said he was confident that Azmat, who has pleaded guilty to credit card fraud, would get a lesser term than Khan.
