MIAMI (AP) — Defense witnesses are set to testify from Pakistan in the South Florida trial of a Muslim cleric charged with financially supporting the Pakistani Taliban.
The first of up to 11 witnesses will testify Monday from an Islamabad hotel. The testimony will be beamed to a Miami federal courtroom via video hookup. Defense lawyers will ask questions in Pakistan, with prosecutors doing cross-examination using the video feed.
The unusual arrangement was made necessary when several witnesses for 77-year-old Hafiz Khan could not travel to the U.S. Others face U.S. charges and refused to come.
Khan is charged with funneling at least $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban. Defense witnesses will testify the money was not for terrorists but for the needy and victims of violence in Pakistan's Swat Valley region.
