Busy tourist update. Of course, here is another innocent Muslim engaging in innocent activities and wrongfully arrested. I would find such assertions more credible if law enforcement officials had ever arrested and tried a Muslim that Islamic advocacy groups acknowledged was guilty. From the Charlotte Observer, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
Kamran Akhtar, suspected of having ties to terrorism after a police officer spotted him videotaping Charlotte’s skyscrapers in July, was sentenced Monday to six months in prison.
Chief Judge Graham Mullen of the U.S. District Court in Charlotte gave the 36-year-old Pakistan native credit for the time he’s already served in jail. That means Akhtar will now be turned over to immigration officials for deportation.
Akhtar has not been charged with any terrorism-related offenses, but he pleaded guilty in October to failing to leave the United States, possessing false identification documents and making false statements to investigators….
When Akhtar was detained in July, authorities announced that they had found a videotape in Akhtar’s camera that showed the 60-story Bank of America tower and the former Wachovia Center, which houses the FBI’s offices in Charlotte.
Authorities said Akhtar also had tapes showing buildings in the downtown areas of Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, Houston and Austin, Texas.
Akhtar’s brother, Irfan Akhtar, told the Observer that Kamran Akhtar has been wrongfully accused and portrayed in the media as a terrorist. He said his brother is not a terrorist.
Irfan Akhtar, 33, said his older brother likes to take pictures of tourists spots and buildings and had been traveling the country after losing his job at a New York photo store….
The indictment accused Akhtar of making false statements to investigators that he was in the United States legally, had a green card and had never been ordered deported. He also was charged with possession of false documents — a New York driver’s license and a Social Security card.
Federal prosecutors have said the investigation into Akhtar’s activities is continuing.