Imam and Informant Tells Why He Lied
Ahmad Wais Afzali, after his sentencing on Thursday. Mr. Afzali avoided imprisonment, but he must leave the country.
By A. G. SULZBERGER
Published: April 15, 2010
He had built a life in this country. He grew up in Queens, attended high school there, and became a religious leader in his community. He would marry and marry again, have children, and buy a plot nearby where he planned to be buried.
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Chang W. Lee/The New York Times,Ahmad Wais Afzali outside the Brooklyn federal courthouse on Thursday.
For Ahmad Wais Afzali, the clock on that life started ticking Thursday.
Mr. Afzali, an imam who was also an infrequent police informant, was sentenced in United States District Court in Brooklyn in connection with a plot to set off bombs in the subway, a scheme that would be described as the most significant threat to national security since 9/11.
The imam essentially warned Najibullah Zazi, the admitted organizer of the plot, that he was under surveillance and — failing to grasp the significance of what he stumbled into — urged him to stay out of trouble. Mr. Afzali would plead guilty to lying to federal officials about the phone conversations he had with Mr. Zazi.
But Mr. Afzali said that even in that criminal act, he was a victim of his desire to serve as a bridge between his country and his community. And in trying to please competing constituencies, he ended up failing both.
Mr. Afzali, 38, avoided a prison sentence on Thursday — even the prosecutor conceded that the defendant was “almost certainly” unaware of the seriousness of his conduct — but not punishment. He will be deported if he does not leave the country within 90 days.
“I’m standing in front of you as a convicted felon, a lying imam, which is a physical, emotional and spiritual burden far greater than any sentence you could impose,” Mr. Afzali told Judge Frederic Block in the brief sentencing hearing.
“Honest to God,” he added, “it was never my intention to help those idiots for what they do in the name of Islam.”
This week, Mr. Afzali consented to an interview at his home in Queens, where he elaborated on his conversations with Mr. Zazi, his relationship with the police and his feelings of betrayal by those who had sought his help.
“I cannot express my feelings in words, but I’m going to try,” he said. “Violated. Betrayed. Used to the highest degree. Treated worse than a dog.”
The chain of events that led Mr. Afzali to his fate began last September with a phone call from a detective with the New York Police Department, he said. They needed to talk to him right away.
Mr. Afzali had worked with the police on and off since 9/11, without pay, because, he said, he “was upset because the people involved claimed to follow my faith.”
Minutes after the phone call, a detective and a sergeant were in his living room, having presented several photos and a single question: did he know these men?
Coaxed, he recognized three boys who attended his classes at his former mosque, Mr. Zazi, Adis Medunjanin and Zarein Ahmedzay, now bearded men in their mid-20s. More questions followed, but he could offer only the barest biographical details, he said.
The visit seemed more significant than others, but his visitors would not explain their interest in the men. Before they left, he said, they asked him to find out more about what the men were doing in New York, though they did not say how.
“I knew it was something serious,” Mr. Afzali said, “but I didn’t know how serious it was.”
The following week, the authorities said publicly that the three men were just days away from trying to detonate explosives in the subway in three coordinated suicide attacks.
But on the morning after his conversation with the police, Sept. 11. 2009, Mr. Afzali knew none of this, he said.
He began tracking down Mr. Zazi, speaking first to a distant relative of the man, and then to his father. Shortly before noon, he reached Mr. Zazi. The conversation started awkwardly.
“What’s going on?” Mr. Afzali began.
“Um, what do you mean?” Mr. Zazi said defensively.
Mr. Afzali laughed. “How you been? I’m asking you.”
Mr. Afzali then told Mr. Zazi that the authorities had come asking about him and his two friends. Mr. Afzali said he did not want to know details. He warned that the phone call was being monitored.
And he repeatedly entreated Mr. Zazi to stay out of trouble, telling him: “I know you’re not that kind of person. I know you’re a good person.”
“Just go home,” he said, “be with your father and mother, do your job, keep your head down, mind your own business, don’t get involved in Iraq garbage or Afghanistan garbage. That’s my advice for you.”
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