Doctor's New York terror aid trial opens

A doctor accused of offering to treat injured al-Qaida fighters was manipulated by a longtime friend seeking to make extra money, his defense lawyer said Wednesday at the opening of his trial.

Rafiq Abdus Sabir's "being branded as a terrorist is something that's completely false," attorney Edward Wilford said, adding his client "has seen his American dream turn into a nightmare."

Sabir, 52, is charged with conspiring to provide material support or resources to a terrorist group from October 2003 through May 2005. If convicted, Sabir could face up to 30 years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Rodgers said Wednesday that Sabir swore loyalty to al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden, and offered to treat the group's injured.

The case, the result of a sting operation, has already ensnared a jazz musician, a cabdriver and a bookstore owner, all of whom have pleaded guilty.

Wilford said it was the musician, Tarik Shah, who was one of Sabir's friends and a martial arts expert, who sought out the apparent al-Qaida ties in desperation for some extra money.

Sabir, who was left in an orphanage by his mentally ill mother after being abandoned by his father, saw Shah as a father figure, Wilford told jurors in federal court.

By offering Sabir as a possible associate, Shah was giving those he believed would be his handlers an "enticement" to take him on, Wilford said.

Sabir, an Ivy League medical school graduate, was arrested in May 2005 at his home in a gated Boca Raton, Fla., community where he lived with his wife and children.

He has been held without bail since the government said it had recorded conversations of him pledging to help al-Qaida as he met with an FBI agent posing as an al-Qaida recruiter.

Prosecutors say Sabir was arrested soon after a 2005 meeting in a Bronx apartment in which he agreed to treat al-Qaida fighters while in Saudi Arabia, where he worked as a physician at a military hospital.

Travel records showed he had been scheduled to leave just days after his arrest.

"Sabir and Shah are extremely close," Rodgers said, and "share an extremist view of Islam."

The prosecutor also said that in asking Sabir to swear allegiance to al-Qaida and bin Laden, the undercover agent made sure Sabir understood what he was doing.

According to Rodgers, Sabir replied, "Yes, I'm ready. I've been prepared for a long time. My spirit is ready."

Wilford disputed the context of the conversation, saying Sabir was largely a bystander as Shah spoke and did not share the same point of view.