Search the Internet          Tips  Links: Terror in America

Gul Mohammad's family shattered by verdict

Syed Gul Mohammad Shah's family is shattered by the sentence awarded to him by a court in New York in connection with credit card fraud in the United States.

His elder brother Syed Zahir Shah said he was devastated by the news that the Manhattan court had sentenced his sibling to a jail term of one year and one day.

The family tried to reach his lawyer in New York, but only got the answering machine.

“Ď don’t know how all this happened. We were hoping that Gul Mohammad would be deported to India after being convicted, but our hopes were belied,” Zahir Shah told rediff on Friday night.

The family is also worried by the court directive that Shah pay restitution of $415,000. “We don’t know when he will emerge from this ordeal,” Zahir Shah said.

Tasleem, Mohammad Jaweed Azmath's wife, was also perturbed by news of the conviction. Azmath and Shah were arrested by the Texas police a day after the 9/11 attacks on suspicion that they were linked to terrorism. Though they were cleared of links to terrorism, both men were charged with credit card fraud.

Azmath will be sentenced next month at the same court.

Tasleem contacted Azmath’s lawyer Anthony L Ricco over the phone and heaved a sigh of relief when told that her husband’s case would come up before the court on September 18. “I am hopeful my husband will be deported to India. I am already going through a lot of tension since deportation orders have been served on me to return to Pakistan,” said a distraught Tasleem, a Pakistani citizen married to her Indian cousin, Azmath.

Tasleem has been fighting a legal battle herself. A judge of the Andhra Pradesh high court dismissed her petition challenging the deportation orders and seeking extension of her visa for two years on the ground that she was married to an Indian citizen and a child has been born to her in India. “I will file an appeal before the high court,” she told rediff.

ALSO READ
Azmath's Pakistani wife approaches court against deportation
Azmath's wife's plea for visa extension adjourned
Families clueless about charges against Hyderabadi duo in FBI custody
Families shocked at the arrest of Indian suspects
Indian duo no longer suspect in September 11 attacks
Indian suspect in FBI custody blessed with a son
FBI agents question Indian suspects in Hyderabad
US attacks: 2 men claiming to be Indians held
Indian suspects clean back home: Police
Cases in AP against Indians in FBI custody
FBI may deport Indian suspects
Kin of Indian suspects quizzed by FBI
Two Indians arrested after 9/11 attack charged with fraud
Indian charges US authorities with racial profiling

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report