Over the objections of federal prosecutors, a judge agreed Monday to release on bond one of four men charged with providing financial support to al-Qaeda.
Sultane Roome Salim, 40, of Columbus is to be released from the Lucas County jail once his mother posts a $500,000 property bond that includes her home and a commercial building in Cambridge, Ohio.
Judge James Knepp, U.S. District magistrate, ordered that Mr. Salim surrender his passport and be released to the custody of his mother, Shakila Salim, and his wife of nearly 15 years, Mehreen Sultan. Ms. Sultan, a citizen of Pakistan, also surrendered her passport and the passports of the couple’s three children.
Mr. Salim is charged with conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources to terrorists, providing material support and resources to terrorists, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Toledo that also named his brother, Asif Ahmed Salim, 35, as well as Yahya Farooq Mohammad, 37, and Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad, 36.
Prosecutors allege the group conspired to travel to Yemen to give thousands of dollars to Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.
Michael Tobin, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said Asif Salim and Yahya Mohammad, both residents of the United Arab Emirates, were arrested overseas and flown to Virginia. Ibrahim Mohammad was arrested in Texas.
All three are being held behind bars awaiting transfer to Toledo.
Mr. Salim’s wife and his mother both took the witness stand at Monday’s detention hearing, assuring the court they would make certain Mr. Salim abided by the terms and conditions of his release and would contact authorities if he did not.
Under questioning by Christos Georgalis, an assistant U.S. attorney, Ms. Sultan said she knew nothing about the charges her husband faced, that she never heard him talk about working with his brother to provide funds to al-Qaeda, although she had heard him mention al-Awlaki in the past.
Judge Knepp told Ms. Sultan she would be in “a heckuva spot” if her husband violated the terms of his bond. She would be obligated to report him to the court, he said, and if she failed to do that, she could be charged with contempt of court and jailed.
“If that sounds scary, it should,” he told her.
Mr. Salim’s court-appointed attorney, Cherrefe Kadri, assured the court her client would comply.
“This is a very well-educated man who has a lot of skills,” Ms. Kadri said, explaining that Mr. Salim is a chemical engineer who most recently worked as a financial analyst.
She said that since his arrest, he has been fired from his job and the family is being evicted from their apartment in Columbus. Ms. Kadri said he is willing to live with his mother in Cambridge where his wife and three children also plan to live.
Among the other conditions of bond, Judge Knepp ordered that Mr. Salim have no contact with his three co-defendants.
“I can’t imagine that a man would violate the terms and conditions and put his mom in that kind of peril, but above and beyond the property that your mother is posting, both she and the mother of your children are putting their very liberty at stake by undertaking this obligation,” Judge Knepp said.
“I can’t imagine that a man would subject his own mother or the mother of his children to some kind of peril in furtherance of his selfish interests no matter what may be guiding them,” he said.
Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.
First Published November 24, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
