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MIAMI (AP) — An ailing Florida Muslim cleric convicted of providing financial support to the Pakistani Taliban will be released early from prison on humanitarian grounds.
Miami U.S. District Judge Robert Scola ordered Friday that 84-year-old Hafiz Khan be freed from a North Carolina prison to a hospice care facility. The order says Khan suffers from pneumonia, dementia, and cancer and cannot speak.
Khan was convicted in 2013 of providing at least $50,000 in support to the Pakistani Taliban, which is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. He was sentenced to a 25-year prison term.
Federal prosecutors argued that Khan remained a danger because he could still direct money and provide inspiration to extremists. But Scola found he poses no threat.
Khan will be released to a Raleigh, North Carolina hospice.
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