Tariq Ibn Osman Shah, a New York City jazz musician and martial arts instructor, pleaded guilty to pledging allegiance to al Qaeda and offering to train would-be terrorists.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City jazz musician and martial arts instructor pleaded guilty on Wednesday to pledging allegiance to al Qaeda and offering to train would-be terrorists in hand-to-hand combat.
The prosecution's case against Tariq Ibn Osman Shah was based largely on taped conversations between him, an undercover FBI agent posing as an al Qaeda recruiter and an FBI informant, Mohamed Alanssi.
Alanssi attracted attention in 2004 when, apparently in protest against his treatment by the FBI, he attempted suicide by setting himself on fire in front of the White House.
"I agreed with others to provide material support to al Qaeda in the form of martial arts training, which I knew was wrong," Shah, 44, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein after entering his guilty plea.
"I knew that the Secretary of State had designated al Qaeda as a terrorist organization."
Shah faces up to 15 years in prison and will be sentenced on July 10. He was one of four men charged with conspiring to provide material support to groups the United States says are involved in terrorist activities.
Two other defendants, Farhane Abdulrahman, the owner of a Brooklyn bookstore, and Mahmud Faruq Brent, a Maryland taxi driver, have already pleaded guilty in the case.
Abdulrahman's statement, made in November, has not been made public. On Monday, Brent pleaded guilty to attending a training camp in Pakistan facilitated by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group fighting Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region.
The fourth defendant, Rafiq Sabir, is a doctor from Boca Raton, Fla., who prosecutors said studied martial arts under Shah.
Sabir is charged with agreeing to treat wounded jihadists in Saudi Arabia. His trial is scheduled to begin this month.
In New York, Shah was known as a jazz bassist and was a mainstay at St. Nicks Pub, a jazz club. He has performed alongside Betty Carter and once recorded with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
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