TWO imams at South Florida mosques are among six people indicted on federal charges of providing financial support and encouraging violence by the Pakistani Taliban.

The indictment charged Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, the imam at the Miami Mosque.

The indictment also charged two of the imam's sons. All three men are American citizens who are originally from Pakistan.


The four-count indictment charges the Khans and three others living in Pakistan with conspiring to provide material support to a conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap people overseas, as well as conspiring to provide about $45,000 in financial support to the Pakistani Taliban from 2008 to 2010.

Each of the four counts in the indictment carries a maximum 15-year prison term. Prosecutors said the indictment did not charge the mosques. They added that the defendants were charged ''based on their provision of material support to terrorism, not on their religious beliefs or teachings''.

The charges of supporting the Pakistani Taliban but not actually carrying out operations are the most common types of terrorism prosecutions the US has pursued.