Two al-Qaida loyalists face up to 15 years in a federal prison

A pair of alleged &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/26/33240.html ' target=_blank>al-Qaida loyalists, one in New York and another in Florida, were in federal custody Tuesday after separate hearings where both were ordered held without bail.

Tarik Shah, 42, of New York, waved and smiled at supporters and appeared relaxed at his preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan before Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz.

In Fort Pierce, Fla., Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir, 50, told &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/comp/2002/06/13/30271.html ' target=_blank>U.S. District Court Judge James Hopkins that he had yet to hire an attorney, and the judge set the next hearing in the case for June 6.

Neither defendant has yet entered a plea on the charge of conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaida.

According to prosecutors, the two American citizens had sworn a formal oath of loyalty to al-Qaida as they conspired to use their skills in martial arts and medicine to aid international terrorism.

At Sabir's next hearing, the Florida judge will consider whether he will be sent to New York for prosecution, and whether he will continue to be held without bond until trial. Prosecutors requested that Sabir remain in custody, informs the News Day.

According to CBC New York, fifty-year-old doctor Rafiq Sabir walked into a Florida courthouse this morning to face the charge of conspiracy to provide support to a terrorist group. He is one of two men being arraigned on that charge today. In the criminal complaint, the feds accused his friend Tarik Shah of the Bronx, of conspiring to set up a terror training camp in the basement of a Bronx building and even scouting out a Long Island warehouse. This is where, according to the feds, Shah said he could "teach the brothers how to use swords and machetes." Shah also said, "It has always been one of my dreams to train terrorists."

Shah also allegedly told the informer posing as an Al-Qaeda recruiter, that his good friend Doctor Sabir of Boca Raton would be very helpful because his "emergency room experience would be needed for brothers in training who get hurt," according to the complaint.

When Doctor Sabir and Shah were arrested on Saturday in separate raids in Florida and the Bronx, those who knew the two men were shocked.