Trial of cabbie who sent money to Kashmiri starts on Dec 12

The hearing in the case of Pakistani-Canadian Raja Lahrasib Khan, a 56-year-old cab driver arrested on charges of sending money to Al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri, has been fixed for December 12.

The case was to be taken up originally on Wednesday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago, but the hearing has now been scheduled for December 12, said Khan's attorney Thomas Durkin.

According to media reports, Kashmiri, who is believed to have been killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan in June, was earlier working with slain Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

Khan was arrested in March last year when he was driving his cab in downtown Chicago.

He has been charged with sending money to Kashmiri so that the Al Qaeda commander could purchase explosives for terrorist activities.

Khan is also accused of planning to bomb a US stadium last August.

Khan's son was also apprehended by Federal Bureau of Investigation's agents at Chicago's O'Hare Airport last year because the cab driver tried to send money to Al Qaeda through him, according to court documents.

Khan has been charged with two counts of providing material support to terrorism, with each count carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.