Imam Arrested in Terror Inquiry Appears in Court

A figure in what authorities describe as a widening inquiry into a possible plot to detonate homemade bombs in the United States appeared in a New York City courtroom on Monday on charges that he lied to federal investigators about the investigation.The suspect, Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, is a popular imam in Queens who often served as a source of information for local and federal authorities and may not be implicated in the possible bombing plot. But he was arraigned in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on charges that he tipped off Najibullah Zazi, the plot’s central figure, that investigators were shadowing him and then lied about doing so when questioned.

The imam, a slight and long-bearded man, walked into Magistrate Judge Cheryl L. Pollak’s courtroom wearing a long flowing light-brown tunic and sandals and carrying a white-trimmed black coat. The judge ordered Mr. Afzali held until a bail hearing on Thursday. Court papers released Sunday described a plot by Mr. Zazi to set off homemade bombs and said that Mr. Zazi had been trained in weapons and explosives in Pakistan and had made nine pages of handwritten notes on how to make and handle bombs.