The accused had been under FBI drone surveillance at their remote compound north of Taos since May, according to Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe.<\/p>\n
Police raided the compound near Amalia in early August in the search for a missing three-year-old boy, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj.<\/p>\n
It was then that they discovered the remains of a young boy along with 11 malnourished children, who were reportedly being held at the site. Police also seized “at least 11 firearms and a large quantity of ammunition”.<\/p>\n
The boy’s father, Siraj Wahhaj, is suspected of abducting him from his Georgia home in December and was one of the five arrested.<\/p>\n
He was detained at the site, along with Lucas Morten, Jany Leveille, Hujhrah Wahhaj and Subhannah Wahhaj.<\/p>\n
On 13 August, Judge Sarah Backus granted bail to the five defendants after she said the prosecution had failed to convince her that they were a threat to the community.<\/p>\n
The prosecution argued that all five adults were dangerous and claimed they had trained the children to use weapons and prepare to carry out school shootings.<\/p>\n
“The state alleges that there was a big plan afoot, but the state hasn’t shown to my satisfaction, in clear and convincing evidence, what that plan was,” Judge Backus said.<\/p>\n
She ordered that all five must wear ankle monitors and have weekly contact with their lawyers.<\/p>\n
But her decision was met with protests including an email in which she was called an “Islamic terror sympathiser”.<\/p>\n
The Taos County court building was evacuated briefly on Tuesday after the threats.<\/p>\n Prosecutors also said that the remains found at the site were those of Abdul-Ghani and that the other children said the boy had died during a “religious ritual… intended to cast out demonic spirits”, during which Siraj Wahhaj had put his hand to his son’s forehead, and recited verses from the Koran.<\/p>\n Abdul-Ghani suffered from seizures, but Mr Wahhaj believed the boy was possessed by the devil and needed to be exorcised, court papers said.<\/p>\n However defence lawyers accused the prosecution of treating the five suspects unfairly because they are Muslim – something the prosecutors deny.<\/p>\n Defence lawyer Thomas Clark said after the hearing that if the accused were Christian and white then “nobody would bat an eye over the idea of faith healing”.<\/p>\n “But when black Muslims do it, there seems to be something nefarious, something evil,” he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Siraj](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Siraj-Wahhaj-and-Lucas-Morton.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Jany](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Jany-Leveille-Hujhrah-Wahhaj-Subhannah-Wahhaj.jpg\")
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